Pectus excavatum exists as varying anatomic deformities and compression of the right heart by the chest wall can lead to patient symptoms including dyspnea and chest pain with exertion. Echocardiography can be difficult but is critical to the evaluation and diagnosis of this patient population. Modifying standard views such as biplane transthoracic and 3-D transesophageal views may be necessary in some patients due to limitations from the abnormal anatomy of the deformed anterior chest wall. Apical four-chamber views when seen clearly can usually visualize any extrinsic compression to the right ventricle of the heart.
Chest Pain ; Congenital Abnormalities ; Dyspnea ; Echocardiography ; Funnel Chest ; Heart ; Heart Ventricles ; Humans ; Thoracic Wall

Introduction: Finger millet (FM) or Eleusine coracana L. is considered as a healthier cereal option, especially based on its higher dietary fibre, phytochemical and mineral contents. FM is also recommended for individuals with diabetes, as it is believed to elicit a lower glycaemic response. Methods: The glycaemic response of FM diet was evaluated and compared with white rice (WR) diets using a continuous glucose monitoring system (CGMS™) iPro 2™ among 14 healthy male and female volunteers aged 25-45 years with normal Body Mass Index (≥22.9kg/m2) in a crossover trial. They were recruited from Madras Diabetes Research Foundation volunteers registry. The participants consumed randomised iso-caloric FM or WR based diets for five consecutive days and 24 h interstitial glucose concentrations were recorded. Results: The FM diet had significantly higher dietary fibre than WR (29.9 g vs 15.8 g/1000 kcal, p<0.01) but the other macronutrients were similar. The 5-day average incremental area under the curve (IAUC) of FM diet [Mean (95% CI) = 73.6 (62.1-85.1) mg*min/dl] was not significantly different from that for WR diet [Mean (95% CI) = 78.3(67.9-88.7) mg*min/dl]. Conclusion: Both finger millet and white rice diets showed similar 24 h glycaemic responses, despite the former having higher amounts of dietary fibre. The result suggests that use of FM flour-based food preparations and decorticated FM grains to replace WR in the Indian diets offer no significant benefit with regards to 24 h glycaemic response. Studies of longer duration with larger sample size are needed to verify our findings.