The vacuum chest wall lifter: an innovative, nonsurgical addition to the management of pectus excavatum

This report describes the authors' experience using a vacuum to pull the abnormal chest wall outward in patients with pectus excavatum.A suction cup was used to create a vacuum at the chest wall. A patient-activated hand pump was used to reduce pressure up to 15% below atmospheric pressure. The device was used by 60 patients (56 males, 4 females), aged 6.1 to 34.9 years (median, 14.8 years), for a minimum of 30 minutes, twice a day, up to 5...