Pectus excavatum pilots

[lightspeed12]

Any pilots here have pectus excavatum (sunken chest) and gotten an FAA Class 1 medical?

I am 29 years old. I am pretty sure I have this, although it has never been diagnosed. I get tired more easily compared to others, but this is probably because I am not physically active or do exercise. I have also noticed that I have a bunch of the symptoms for the marfan syndrome (long skinny figure, pectus, positive hand test, long skinny fingers, nearsighted eyes ) but also never got diagnosed. Everytime I measure my blood pressure it comes out borderline high.

I did get a class 1 medical two years ago, but I did not mention none of this to the examiner, and he didn't mention anything either. I did not take out my shirt.

Last year during covid, i got a little sick and thought I got the virus. Tested negative twice. But I was getting some light shortness of breath and was really tired. Looking back, I think it was anxiety (never experienced it before). At the time, I did three separate tele health appointments and in the last one the doctor thought I should use an inhaler to address my shortness of breath concern. So they prescribed it to me. I thought that's crazy, and i didn't pick it up from the pharmacy so I never used it.

Looking forward to any tips or comments you may have. My dream is to be an airline pilot but I want to also get these things checked before I embark on the career.

 

[lightspeed12]

I wanted to also clarify that i didn't mention this to the examiner because , at the time , I thought I was "normal" and didn't think it's an issue at all. I only became concerned after reading more about it in the internet, after I already got my medical...

 

[Lindberg]

By this time you're 29 years old, I would expect that you've been examined by doctors a few times. Maybe even with your shirt off? Did none of them comment on a severely sunken chest or physical signs of Marfan? They are trained to notice this stuff, you know. And Marfan in hereditary. Do your parents or siblings have it? I'm not a doctor, but it sounds to me like at your next medical you'll need to report whatever the diagnosis was that got you the inhaler along with whatever other conditions you actually have, but not the ones you've diagnosed yourself with off WebMD. I don't mean to make light of your concerns, but if you've been receiving regular medical care (prepandemic), these seem like things that would have come up previously.

 

[lbfjrmd]

pectus excavatum is not necessarily dq, neither is p. carinatum.

 

[PaulS]

Go find a primary care doctor and talk this crap over with him/her. You were tired and had shortness of breath with covid because that what covid does to people. You have to disclose covid now on your medical exam. Seriously, "pretty sure I have this" sounds like google self diagnosis. Go to a doc and get a real answer.

 

[bbchien]

Agree with Lou. Depending on severity: PFTs, stress treadmill, echocardiogram.

 

[Aviator305]

There is pectus and there is pectus. How likely it is limiting you is related to the deformity. I have a mild deformity myself and have never felt limited when playing sports . If you had a significant pectus deformity, I would have expected that your pediatrician would have recognized it growing up. There are specialists for this. The evaluation may include determination of the severity by a very simple dimensional calculation (Haller index) which can be obtained by a quick MRI or CT which guides the decision for surgical management (look up Nuss bar).

I am more concerned about you possibly having unrecognized Marfan syndrome. This syndrome goes much beyond the observations that you describe. It includes a bone fide aortopathy. The borderline blood pressure you describe is not really indicative of anything but rather is something to control even more closely if you do have Marfans. The genetic defect in this syndrome essentially affects the integrity of the wall of the aorta causing it to dilate over time. The name of the game is to try to thwart that tendency as much as possible. There are other associated issues such as heart valve disease especially when the aorta dilates. There is also another syndrome which is similar to Marfans (look up Loeys-Dietz) requires the same kind of follow up. Out of the two issues you brought up, this one deserves the higher priority.

I don’t know where you live, but if you do have such a syndrome, try to establish your care in a place with not only an excellent cardiac center but one that is associated with a pediatric hospital with a congenital cardiac disease program. If you want more information, PM me and we can set a time up to talk. The first step is to get worked up and determine whether or not you do have a syndrome.

 

[Beaker’s Flyin]

Any pilots here have pectus excavatum (sunken chest) and gotten an FAA Class 1 medical?

I am 29 years old. I am pretty sure I have this, although it has never been diagnosed. I get tired more easily compared to others, but this is probably because I am not physically active or do exercise. I have also noticed that I have a bunch of the symptoms for the marfan syndrome (long skinny figure, pectus, positive hand test, long skinny fingers, nearsighted eyes ) but also never got diagnosed. Everytime I measure my blood pressure it comes out borderline high.

I did get a class 1 medical two years ago, but I did not mention none of this to the examiner, and he didn't mention anything either. I did not take out my shirt.

Last year during covid, i got a little sick and thought I got the virus. Tested negative twice. But I was getting some light shortness of breath and was really tired. Looking back, I think it was anxiety (never experienced it before). At the time, I did three separate tele health appointments and in the last one the doctor thought I should use an inhaler to address my shortness of breath concern. So they prescribed it to me. I thought that's crazy, and i didn't pick it up from the pharmacy so I never used it.

Looking forward to any tips or comments you may have. My dream is to be an airline pilot but I want to also get these things checked before I embark on the career.

Not a doctor however I have a friend who has Marfan Syndrome and it nearly killed him. He didn't know at the time, he was unusually tall growing up. His family was tall so they thought it was all simple genetics. However, he was lifting weights one day in college and started coughing up blood. He went to the hospital and they discovered an Aortic Aneurism that had partially burst. His family later underwent testing and sure enough his mother had it as well, albeit after he was originally diagnosed. He was very lucky......As many have said, health first fly second.....