Dr. Carlos Alberto Rodríguez Sabogal introduces his experience with 20 Pectus Excavatum patients operated on with Pectus Up in Colombia.
The Chest Wall International Group (CWIG) was born in 2009, during the 18th WSCTS World Congress held on the island of Kos, in Greece, where a group of surgeons became aware of the interest that thoracic deformities aroused among the community of experts in this field.
Since then, its number of members has increased, along with treatments, specialists and new techniques to correct malformations of the chest wall, including the Pectus Excavatum.
This 2020, the global Covid-19 pandemic has forced the reinvention of many events, such as the CWIG Annual Meeting. The yearly congress of the CWIG, aimed at thoracic, cardiothoracic, pediatric and plastic surgeons has become, in this year’s edition, a four-day webinar.
On November 12, 13, 19 and 20, Annual Meeting attendees can safely visit the presentations from their computers or tablets. In this edition, Dr. Rodríguez Sabogal, thoracic surgeon and expert in chest wall malformations, introduced on November 12, 2020 at 3:56 p.m. (UTC+1) his presentation Experiencia en Colombia con el sistema de implante extratorácico Pectus Up para corrección de Pectus Excavatum – Serie de 20 Casos (Experience in Colombia with the extrathoracic implant system Pectus Up for correction of Pectus Excavatum – Series of 20 cases).
Dr. Rodríguez is currently the surgeon with the most experience in the treatment of Pectus Excavatum with Pectus Up in Latin America.
Along with Dr. Fernando Fierro, a pediatric surgeon, he has contributed to the training in this technique to several specialist surgeons in different territories of Colombia, since the first Pectus Up training workshop held in Barcelona (Spain) organized by Ventura Medical Technologies.
Later, various training workshops have been organized throughout the country, with the help of Biomedisys SAS, distributor of the implant in Colombia, which has made possible that 20 Pectus Excavatum patients have been successfully treated with this innovative surgical technique.
The Pectus Up is an extrathoracic method that considerably reduces the complexity and risks of the Pectus Excavatum correction. It consists of the placement of an implant above the sternum, at the subpectoral level, which pulls it upwards until a more anatomically correct position is achieved. Subsequently, the implant is fixed to the sternum and the costal cartilages to maintain this position after the surgery.
With this technique, developed by Ventura Medical Technologies, the subsequent recovery time is shorter and patients highlight the low presence of pain and the quick return into everyday life.
Ventura Medical Technologies is currently marketing the Pectus Up implant in Spain, France and Portugal in Europe, and in Colombia, Mexico, Costa Rica and Chile in Latin America.