Can The Barrel Chest Deformity Be Effectively Treated?

Q: Dr. Eppley,  I wanted to know if the doctor preforms a surgery to fix a deformity of the ribcage like barrel shaped ribcage thanks  I’m willing to go for a very aggressive risky approach as long as it provides a real change im tired of living with this deformity its impacting my quality of life in every single way my hurts from hunching it all the time trying to hide my protruding barrel chest it’s just unacceptable and very unappealing. 

A:In the barrel chest deformity it would be necessary to do rib reduction osteotomies at multiple levels probably from rib # 5 down through #9. The question is not whether this can be done but how effective would be in doing so. To my knowledge no one has ever performed such a procedure before so knowing how effective it would be remains speculative. The unknown variable in removing lateral rib segment at this level of the rib cage is how much flexibility of the ribs exist, in other words can you close down the resected rib ends and put them back together and , if so, how large of a rib segment can be safely removed. I know from doing rib reduction osteotomies at rib #9 that at least one cm of rib bone can be removed and the two ends plated it back together. But does the same rib flexibility exist as you go higher up on the ribcage?  For now we can only speculate that it does but until the surgery is attempted no one can answer that question with certainty.

Dr. Barry Eppley

World-Renowned Plastic Surgeon