Posted on Feb 26, 2015
CPO Jon Campbell
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Is pectus excavatum a condition that MEPS screens for? It is a condition that causes a dip in the center of the chest. (It used to be called Cobblers Chest) Doctors used to consider it a cosmetic thing, but it is now more often being corrected with surgery.
Posted in these groups: Ems Medical
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CW5 Desk Officer
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I found an answer to this question for the Army, CPO Jon Campbell, and I read that the standards for this sort of thing are essentially the same across the services. In the Army it's AR 40-501 (here's the link: http://armypubs.army.mil/epubs/pdf/r40_501.pdf), and here's what it says about pectus excavatum, in para 2-23, i.:

"Current chest wall malformation (754), including, but not limited to pectus excavatum (754.81), or pectus carinatum (754.82), if these conditions interfere with vigorous physical exertion, does not meet the standard."

The "out" seems to be that if the condition does not interfere with vigorous physical exertion, the individual should be good to go.
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SGT Jim Z.
SGT Jim Z.
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CW5 (Join to see) thank you for your dedication and answer.
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CPO Jon Campbell
CPO Jon Campbell
10 y
Thanks for researching this for me. I wasted a lot of time on Google when I should have just asked on here first.
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PO2 Logs And Records
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I have pectus excavatum, had surgery on it (pectus bar implant and removal) and I had medical paperwork on it and they looked at my chest and my paperwork when I first joined, I was cleared from it.
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