What is Vacuum Bell? A treatment method for Pectus Excavatum!

The Therapy Of Vacuum Bell Method

In addition to surgical repair of Pectus excavatum, the vacuum bell was introduced more than 10 years ago. It is a conservative treatment to correct the pectus excavatum. The preliminary results of Vacuum Bell are encouraging.

With the vacuum bell treatment that is based on 13-year of experience during the Nuss procedure the intraoperative use some technical innovations.

Vacuum Bell Methods

To create a vacuum at the anterior wall of the chest a Vacuum Bell with a patient-activated hand pump is used. There are three different types of sizes of vacuum bell are available. There exists a model that is fitted for young women. According to the patient’s age and ventral surface the appropriate size of vacuum bell is selected. For a minimum of 30 minutes twice a day it should be used at home. It can be used for a maximum to several hours daily. During follow-up visits with an integrated gauge the intensity of the applied negative pressure can be evaluated. There is a prototype of electric models that are used to enable the measurement of the correlation between the elevation of the anterior wall of the chest and the applied negative pressure.

Vacuum Bell Results

Approximately, 450 patients between the age of 21 to 61 years have been started the vacuum bell therapy since 2003. The clinical course and the success of vacuum bell therapy can be influenced by the age and gender-specific differences, symmetry or asymmetry, depth of PE, and the concomitant malformations such as kyphosis, and scoliosis. There are three different groups of patients are seen. In almost every patient during the Nuss procedure an immediate elevation of the sternum was thoracoscopically confirmed. Since last 13 years, almost 434 patients including female and male started treatment with vacuum bell therapy. For which types of patients is it effective? The majority of the patients are children and adolescents

Technical Details of Vacuum Bell

There are three different sizes of vacuum bells are available, they are 16, 19 and 26 in diameter. According to the individual ventral surface and patient’s age the size of the vacuum bell is chosen. In a supplementary surface with reinforced silicon wall the medium-sized model is available. With a small deep Pectus excavatum the medium sized model is suited for the adult patients. A special fitted model is available for the adult and adolescents female patients

For a minimum of 30 minutes twice a day during 4-6 weeks of vacuum bell should be used and it is done according to the instructions and experiences.

Indications, Contradictions, and Side Effects

Generally, the vacuum bell therapy is feasible at any age. The important factors are the patient’s age and the ventral surface for local application. There are some contraindications that include vasculopathies, musculoskeletal disorders, cardiac disorders, and coagulopathies. Before beginning the therapy a standardized evaluation of the protocol is routinely performed to exclude these disorders

There are some complications, which include; during the vacuum bell are petechial bleeding, subcutaneous hematoma, and dordalgia and transient parasthesia of the upper extremities.

There Are Ten Size Of Vacuum Bell Available

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