The Willital-Hegemann Procedure

Willital-Hegemann is an open procedure to repair Chest Wall Deformities. It is performed using a midline chest incision, following which the costal cartilages are excised bilaterally to free the sternum. The sternum and the flail chest wall segments are stabilized by 3 metal struts are to support the reconstructed chest wall. In patients with severe asymmetry as well as those presenting with complex forms, a 4th strut could be employed. Corrections have been performed on over 1262 patients with severe asymmetric forms of pectus excavatum and pectus carinatum or combined pectus excavatum-carinatum deformities using this technique with excellent result. Excellent aesthetic results and low rates of recurrences after the procedure indicate the need to offer this method of surgical correction patients with severe asymmetric and complex chest wall deformities.