Repair of pectus excavatum in children under 3 years of age: a twelve-year experience.

From 1964 to 1975, 50 children under 36 months of age had operative repair of severely deforming pectus excavatum. No child died or suffered a serious complication from the operation. Most young children needing early repair of progressive pectus excavatum can be identified by 18 months of age. Forty-five patients in this series (90%) have had a totally satisfactory cosmetic and anatomical result on one- to twelve-year follow-up. Early repair of marked pectus excavatum in young children is safe and is efficacious in providing a suitable body contour.