Diagnosis of Slipped Rib Syndrome and Treatment Using the Hansen's Repair

This video presents the diagnosis and treatment of slipped rib syndrome, a syndrome that is often missed. The Hansen's repair is a novel and very simple way to address this problem.

Slipped rib syndrome presents with significant pain over the anterior lower rib cage. It is worse on movement and the hook test reproduces the extreme pain. Dynamic ultrasounds can also help with the diagnosis, although most patients’ pathways are littered with a long line of normal tests, and many patients are left feeling that there is no organic cause, often having had a futile cholecystectomy.

The author encourages all cardiothoracic surgeons to familiarize themselves with this condition, which is now simple to resolve with the Hansen's repair technique, taking no more than 10 minutes to perform (1).

Reference

Hansen AJ, Toker A, Hayanga J, Buenaventura P, Spear C, Abbas G. Minimally invasive repair of adult slipped rib syndrome without costal cartilage excision. Ann Thorac Surg. 2020;110(3):1030-1035.