Cite this article as: Alaca N, Alaca I, Yu ¨ksel M. Physiotherapy in addition to vacuum bell therapy in patients with pectus excavatum. Interact CardioVasc Thorac Surg 2020; doi:10.1093/icvts/ivaa161. Physiotherapy in addition to vacuum bell therapy in patients with pectus excavatum Nuray Alaca a, *, Ihsan Alaca a,b and Mustafa Yu ¨ksel b a Department of Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation, Faculty of Health Sciences, Acibadem Mehmet Ali Aydinlar University, Istanbul, Turkey b Chest Wall Deformities and Pectus Association, Istanbul, Turkey * Corresponding author. Department of Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation, Faculty of Health Sciences, Acibadem Mehmet Ali Aydinlar University, Kerem Aydınlar Kampusu, Icerenkoy Mah. Kayisdagi Cad. No: 32, Atasehir, 34752 Istanbul, Turkey. Tel: +90-216-5004181; fax: +90-216-5765076; e-mail: nuray.alaca@acibadem.edu.tr (N. Alaca). Received 14 April 2020; received in revised form 22 June 2020; accepted 9 July 2020 Abstract OBJECTIVES: Vacuum bell and exercise therapy are non-invasive treatments for pectus excavatum (PE). The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of the physiotherapy programme applied in addition to vacuum bell treatment in patients with PE. METHODS: The study included 26 male patients with PE aged 11–18 years. Patients were randomly divided into 2 groups: group 1 re- ceived only vacuum bell treatment; group 2 had vacuum bell therapy and physiotherapy. Patient demographic and disease-related charac- teristics, type of sternal depression, perception of their deformity, postural evaluations, treatment satisfaction and quality of life were evalu- ated before and 12 weeks after treatment. RESULTS: From external chest circumference measurements related to PE, sternal depression and anthropometric index values showed improvement in both groups (P < 0.05), but better results were observed in group 2 than in group 1 (P < 0.05). Modified percent depth and scores from the T3 region (distance between the most prominent point of the sternum and the spinous process of the vertebra at the same level) showed improvement only in group 2 (P < 0.01), whereas severity of PE, the patient’s perception of his deformity and parental THORACIC V C The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery. All rights reserved. Interactive CardioVascular and Thoracic Surgery (2020) 1–7 ORIGINAL ARTICLE doi:10.1093/icvts/ivaa161 Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/icvts/advance-article/doi/10.1093/icvts/ivaa161/5910041 by guest on 24 September 2020