Dr. Mario Alberto Culebras, along with Dr. Eduardo Pérez Etchepare and Professor Manuel López Paredes, successfully treated a patient affected by Pectus Excavatum with the new extrathoracic method Pectus Up.
This is the first time that the innovative surgical technique Pectus Up, which will contribute to improving the quality of life of the affected patients of Pectus Excavatum, is used in this hospital of the Canary Islands.
Dr. Culebras, head of the Pediatric Surgery Service of the Hospital Universitario Nuestra Señora de La Candelaria in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, continues to increase minimally invasive techniques to operate on pediatric patients with complex lung conditions throughout the territory of Tenerife.
Dr. Culebras’ experience and interest in the minimally invasive approach has led other professionals to know and train in the new surgical extrathoracic method Pectus Up for treating the Pectus Excavatum.
Professor Manuel López-Paredes, current head of the Pediatric Surgery Service at Hospital Vall d’Hebron in Barcelona and one of the greatest international experts in Pectus Up, went to La Candelaria Hospital to take part in the intervention of Dr. Culebra,
Dr. López is the national reference in Pectus Up, as he goes to other hospitals to train expert surgeons in thoracic deformities in this innovative and minimally invasive surgical procedure.
In March of this year, López also traveled to Chile to take part, together with Dr. Patricio Herrera Oroz, in a 13-year-old Pectus Up intervention at the Dr. Exequiel González Cortés Hospital in Santiago, Chile.
With the Pectus Up, developed by Ventura Medical Technologies in collaboration with Hospital Taulí in Sabadell (Spain), patients’ pain is significantly reduced, a quick recovery is enabled, and possible serious complications, both intraoperative and postoperative, are considerably minimized.
Hospital Nuestra Señora de La Candelaria. Santa Cruz de Tenerife
The Hospital Universitario Nuestra Señora de Candelaria is located in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, capital of this Canary Island. It is attached to the network of public hospitals of the Canary Islands Health Service and, for 50 years, it provides specialized health care to the population of Tenerife, as well as citizens of El Hierro, La Gomera and La Palma in specialties that are not available in their sanitary area.
The hospital encompasses the most complex surgical pathologies developed in patients aged between prenatal period and 14 years old. According to data from the hospital itself, in 2017, 50% of surgeries in children were performed through minimally invasive surgery, equating the position to the large European hospitals.
With the incorporation of the new Pectus Up technique, the hospital will have this percentage increased because a large part of the patients with Pectus Excavatum can be treated in a non-invasive way, which will lead to great advantages for them, as well as for surgeons, since the complexity of the intervention is significantly reduced.
After five decades, this hospital has evolved over the time, adapting to social demands and placing itself at the head of the best hospital centers in its category through the incorporation of new care services, cutting-edge technology and innovative surgical techniques, and also thanks to the work of almost 5000 professionals.
