A repair of funnel chest without sternal dissection in aortic root replacement.

A 46-year-old man with Marfan syndrome was admitted for repair of annuloaortic etasia and funnel chest. Before median sternotomy, seven transverse skin incisions were made for resection of deformed ribs. The convex portions at the costochondral junctions of the right 4 approximately 7th and left 5 approximately 7th ribs were removed. Thereafter, the conventional median sternotomy was safely performed. Aortic root was replaced. After weaning from the cardiopulmonary bypass, the redundant distal end of the sternum was resected, fractured sites of the concave sternum were straightened and secured with wire fixation, and the split sternum was sutured with wires in an ordinary fashion.