Presentation
Cough and chest deformity.
Patient Data
Pectus excavatum (Funnel chest) is present. (Haller index=3.5).
Case Discussion
Pectus excavatum is a congenital chest wall deformity characterized by concave depression of the sternum, resulting in cosmetic and radiographic alterations.
The Haller index is a simple mathematical way to assess and describe the chest cage on CT of the thorax and is used in the detection of pectus excavatum, as well as preoperative and postoperative assessment and calculated by dividing the transverse diameter of the chest by the anterior-posterior distance on CT of the chest on the axial slice that demonstrates the smallest distance between the anterior surface of the vertebral body and the posterior surface of the sternum.