Development of a simulation system to predict postoperative thorax shape in surgical correction for pectus excavatum

漏斗胸，或漏斗胸，是一种先天性畸形，其胸部中部呈凹面。在目前最流行的漏斗胸矫正方法中，将u型棒置于胸骨下方并旋转以抬高胸骨。虽然这种矫正方法易于操作，但预测术后胸腔形状仍然是一个具有挑战性的问题。通过使用有限元方法，作者开发了一种技术来预测矫正后的术后胸腔形状。

Pectus excavatum, or funnel chest, is a type of congenital deformity where the thorax presents concavity at its central part. In the currently most popular correction method for the pectus excavatum, U-shaped bars are placed beneath the sternum and rotated to elevate it. Although this correction method is easy to perform, prediction of postoperative thorax shape had been remained as a challenging problem with this method. By using the finite element method, the authors developed a technique to perform the prediction of postoperative thorax shapes after the correction.