SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 13 (UPI) -- San Francisco researchers have begun a study to determine if using magnets can correct sunken chest, the most common congenital chest deformity.
Sunken chest, which is known medically as pectus excavatum, is a deformity of the cartilage that connects the ribs to the breastbone. The deformed cartilage pulls the breastbone inward, making the chest look caved in or sunken, according to researchers at the University of California, San Francisco.
The researchers have developed a new procedure in which a magnet attached to the child's breastbone is coupled with a second one outside the chest that creates a steady, controlled, outward pull on the internal magnet to reshape the bone, cartilage and chest wall.
The procedure marks one of the first times magnets have been embedded inside the body to treat a health condition, according to study leader Dr. Michael Harrison.
"We needed to apply a force to gradually remodel the chest wall without piercing the skin," Harrison said. "Magnets do it."
The use of the magnets has been deemed safe by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which has reviewed and approved the 3MP device, says Harrison.
