Early outcomes of the bird-cage chest wall reconstruction in the Philippine General Hospital

ABSTRACT

Objective@#To describe the treatment outcomes of patients with chest wall tumors undergoing resection and Birdcage chest wall reconstruction in the local setting. @*Methods@#Data were obtained from 13 patients who underwent chest wall resection and Bird-cage (methylmethacrylate neo-rib, mesh, soft tissue, and skin) reconstruction in the Philippine General Hospital from January 2008 to September 2019. Demographics, operative procedures, 30-day operative morbidity, and mortality were evaluated using means and frequencies. @*Results@#We included 13 (77% female) patients with a mean age of 44.5 years. The most common indication for chest wall resection was recurrent neoplasm (5/13, 38.46%). The most extensive chest wall defect was 600 cm2. The average length of ICU stay was 5.15 days, and two patients had prolonged intubation (>3 days). The graft infection rate was 38%, pneumonia 23%, and the operative mortality rate was zero.@*Conclusion@#Bird-cage reconstruction is a safe, reliable, and cheap method of providing rigid chest wall reconstruction for chest wall tumor resection.