Most surgeons use techniques involving stabilisation with a metal frame. Of these techniques, the one for which the most information on long-term results is available worldwide is the Erlangen method (of the Hegemann school).
The fundamentals of this technique were developed in the 1950s by Sulamaa, Wallgren and Paltia in Helsinki, Finland. In recent years it has been improved in the light of extensive experience. Chest wall corrective surgery today, as developed further under Prof. Hümmer, represents a substantially less invasive procedure than in the past.
In particular, operating times and lengths of hospital stay have been substantially shortened. This has been possible because of a reduction in the size of incisions, to the extent that now minimally invasive techniques leave barely perceptible scars.
