Chest Wall Reconstruction
Medically reviewed by Drugs.com. Last updated on Apr 6, 2025.
What do I need to know about chest wall reconstruction?
Chest wall reconstruction is surgery to repair your chest wall. The chest wall is made of bones, cartilage, and muscles. The chest wall protects your heart and lungs and helps you breathe.
How do I prepare for chest wall reconstruction?
- Your surgeon will tell you how to prepare. Your surgeon may tell you not to eat or drink anything after midnight on the day of your surgery. Arrange to have someone drive you home when you are discharged.
- Tell your surgeon about all your current medicines. Your surgeon will tell you if you need to start or stop any medicine for surgery, and when to do so. You may need to take a blood thinner before your surgery. You may be given antibiotics to help prevent a bacterial infection.
- Tell your surgeon about any allergies you have, including to medicines or anesthesia.
- Your surgeon will tell you if you need tests before your surgery, and when to have them.
- Your surgeon will tell you how long you may need to stay in the hospital after surgery.
What will happen during chest wall reconstruction?
- You will be given general anesthesia to keep you asleep and free from pain during surgery. Your surgeon will make an incision near your chest. Your surgeon may insert a soft or hard prosthesis into your chest to create a new wall. The material used will depend on your condition.
- Your surgeon may use muscle from a different part of your body, such as your leg, to create the chest wall. A separate incision will be made. The muscle will be taken out of your body part and sewn into the new chest wall.
What should I expect after chest wall reconstruction?
- You will be taken to the intensive care unit (ICU) to be monitored after surgery. Do not get out of bed until your healthcare provider says it is okay.
- A chest tube will be placed during surgery to drain air and extra fluid from around your lungs. The chest tube will be left in place until all the extra fluid and air are gone. Your provider will monitor how much fluid collects and decide when to remove the chest tube.
- A Foley catheter is a tube put into your bladder to drain urine into a bag. Keep the bag below your waist. This will prevent urine from flowing back into your bladder and causing an infection or other problems. Also, keep the tube free of kinks so the urine will drain properly. Do not pull on the catheter. This can cause pain and bleeding, and may cause the catheter to come out.
- Extra oxygen may be needed if your blood oxygen level is low. You may get oxygen through a mask placed over your nose and mouth or through small tubes placed in your nostrils.
- Medicines may be given to prevent or relieve pain, nausea, or a bacterial infection.
- Healthcare providers may help you stand up and walk as soon as possible after surgery. Exercise may help prevent blood clots.
- Deep breathing and coughing may help decrease your risk for a lung infection. Take a deep breath and hold the breath as long as you can. Push the air out of your lungs with a deep, strong cough. Take deep breaths and cough 10 times each hour. Hold a pillow tightly against your incision when you cough to help decrease the pain.
- You may not be able to do your regular activities for a few months. For 6 to 8 weeks after surgery, you will need to follow your healthcare provider's activity instructions.
What are the risks of chest wall reconstruction?
You may bleed more than expected or develop an infection at your incision site. Your body may reject the prosthesis. You may need another surgery to take the prosthesis out. You may need more surgeries if the reconstruction does not work. You may develop life-threatening pneumonia, respiratory failure, or blood clots.
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