Morphological Features in the Tissues of the Sternal-rib Complex in Children with Funnel Chest Deformation

Objective: to evaluate the reactive changes in chondrocytes of the cartilage of the sterno-costal complex with its morphological characteristics of the components of the sterno-costal complex in children with funnel chest deformity. Methods. This article presents the material of morphological studies of the biopsy material of the costal-cartilage part, taken from 66 children (3-18 years old). For histological examination, intraoperatively removed tissue pieces from the anatomically modified cartilaginous elements of the sternum-costal complex of the anterior chest wall during thoracoplasty, were fixed in an aldehyde-osmium solution, and were placed in aralditis. A quantitative study of reactive changes in chondrocyte cartilage was carried out. Results. The quantitative studies of changes in the chondrocytes of the cartilage of the sterno-costal complex indicate pronounced changes in the chondrocytes of the surface zone with a decrease in the nuclear-cytoplasmic index with a more significant increase in the volume fraction of cytoplasm. The obtained results indicate a rather high degree of severity of compensatory reactions of the cartilage tissue of the sterno-costal complex in children. Conclusions. Morphological studies show that properly selected preoperative administration of patients with funnel chest deformity leads to a significant prevention of residual effects of connective tissue dysplasia, which also reduces the likelihood of the formation of gross morphological changes in the structures of the sterno-costal complex.