Migration of pectus excavatum correction metal support into the abdomen

The authors describe a case of migration of a metal support, used to fix a corrected pectus excavatum deformity, into the peritoneal cavity. The migra ted wire caused abdominal pain. A videolaparoscopic removal of the wire was undertaken and the patient made a full recovery. A review of the literatur e shows that this has not been reported before and that serious complicatio ns related to metal struts are very uncommon. We do not believe that a revi sion of this surgical technique is needed; anyway, foreign body migration s hould always be considered as a cause for unusual symptoms in patients unde rgoing this operation. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.