<human>: My sister s 14 year old son has indentation of his rib cage. His is tall for his age, and very slender. I have known other children with this condition that had to get surgically corrected. What is the term for what he has, and what is the surgery?
<bot>: Its called Petrus excavated which is a congenital deformity of the frontal chest in which the chest appears like its sucked in .the corrective surgeries are of two types : 1- traditional method: involving a midline incision with removal of deformed cartilage and insertion of piece of metal to allow for normal cartilage to grow and then removed 6-12 months later 2-two incision method : at both sides of chest with insertion of thoracoscpoe and placement of curved metal to correct the deformity and left it for 2 years I hope this helps