My Story of By Birth Defect in Chest Wall

Debanjan Ghosh from west bengal who recently underwent the NUSS procedure in DELHI.

We have been performing the Nuss procedure since early 2012 and have modified and innovated our techniques from pectus tunneloscopy / moon bridge fixation technique / cross bar technique to make it safer and bring 0% bar displacement as many come from farway states and country. In this period we have touched /changed life’s for better to people all over from India and globally from North and south america to middle east and south asia /australia etc. Many of those teenagers who underwent the nuss procedure have gone from school to college and many are also settled in marriage. The pectus deformity being a very personal subject to the individual we have refrained from posting images online as they are all like family members, for this reason i have not posted any social media pages earlier directly related to individuals, In my clinic i encourage any one planning for surgery to talk to my other patients who have undergone the surgery.

I will like to extend a million thanks to Debanjan for having the courage to speak about his pectus surgery on social media and allowing me share it to spread awareness.He will be most willing to share his ups and downs of his treatment to anyone in need.

Awareness Post : My Story of By Birth Defect in Chest Wall.

There are some uncommon defects or disease where we ignore in past and later gets noticed as critical and have no clue how to handle it or how to cure it if we are not sure about the solution. I felt like to share my story so that it might help someone who has chest wall deformity as it’s very common nowadays but many of us ignores it.

I have been fighting since childhood to find the solution of chest wall deformity. But failed to get any solution as wasn’t aware of the disease and its proper diagnosis wasn’t done.I had symptoms like fainting, Shortness of Breath after climbing stairs or running for sometime etc. This gradually went up high and frequent.

Diagnosis part:
This year starting I happened to visit a Homoeopathy Dr. Buddhadeb Ghosh in Balurghat. At one glance, he readily suspected the issue of my chest. Medically we call it as Pectus Excavatum or Sunken Chest or Funnel Chest. So, he referred me to Cardiologist and get CT Scan of Chest done so that we are sure of it. Through CT Scan it was proved that Sunken Chest has been severe hollow in which it impacted both Lungs and Heart. As per reports, luckily heart was functioning well but Lungs was bit abnormal. This was serious side wise I was but relaxed that finally it has been caught. SPECIAL THANKS TO DR. BUDDHADEB whose diagnosis helped to crack the cause.

Now comes solution part:
Firstly, There are no medicines to cure the sunken chest. The only option is Surgery and depends on the criticality. We came across Dr. Laleng Darlong who holds expertise on Pectus Excavatum. He is currently attached with Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute Hospital, Delhi. We consulted him and was confirmed about the necessary of the surgery. The process is lengthy but worth. We were confident about his process and mentally prepared for it. The surgery was done on 31st July by using Nuss Procedure which is two iron rods will be inserted to uplift the chest wall so that it gets to normal position. The iron rods will stay for 3 years and after that again another Surgery will be done to remove the rods.And then will be able to lead normal life. Post surgery 3 months will be critical in terms of internal pains and restricted body movements. After 3 months , can slowly start normal life but being careful.

I sincerely Thank Dr. L.M. Darlong for his dedication, friendly behaviour and getting the treatment done smoothly and giving me another version to lead life 🙏

Also, Notable Thanks to Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute and Research Centre Hospital for their dedicated Hospitality Services provided for the patients and hats off to management for being transparent and having official work done smoothly in this pandemic situation.

Info on Pectus Excavatum :
A condition in which the breastbone sinks into the chest.
Pectus excavatum is often noticeable shortly after birth and typically worsens during the adolescent growth spurt. It’s more common in boys. It may be associated with genetic or connective tissue diseases.