Peruvians use 3D technologies to reduce risks in heart and brain surgeries and highly complex operations

Dr. Rodrigo Salazar Gamarra, Ph.D. and Eng. José Luis Cáceres are Peruvian researchers who have integrated 3D technologies into the health system to guarantee the success of complex surgeries in our country. This is thanks to Biomedical Engineering and his extensive internationally recognized and award-winning career.

Thus, these specialists created MED 3D (M3D), a company with a social purpose that provides 3D services for medicine, thereby reducing surgical time by 40%, reducing the volume of blood lost by up to 30% and improving the doctor-patient relationship thanks to specialized 3D technologies validated for use in human health.

“A surgery that lasts 12 hours could be performed in 6 hours if we have specialized medical software, 3D printers, biocompatible materials and exact replicas of the patient because there is a greater advantage and the approach to an intervention can be planned in advance, especially when operations are performed of great complexity in the brain, heart and other organs”, says Rodrigo Salazar, founder of M3D and researcher awarded by the MIT Technology Review as Innovative Humanitarian 2018 for Latin America.

M3D, through medical images, manages to carry out specialized virtual planning. With them, surgical guides and pre-surgical simulators are produced, one more dimension for medicine in Peru thanks to 3D printing.

This helps the medical team handle greater details that cannot be seen in images and obtain a more accurate interpretation of the procedures that must be performed on the patient, reducing risks by a considerable percentage.

“With this model we give technology a purpose through 3D printing because we are committed to reducing the gaps in access to quality health in favor of vulnerable populations,” emphasizes José Luis Cáceres, co-founder of M3D and head of the Engineering Unit. Biomédica en Más Identidad Perú (+ID), whose methodology applied in Brazil made it possible to care for cancer patients and provide them with low-cost facial prostheses.

The use of 3D printers and disruptive technologies in medicine have been applied in the world for 30 years; however, in our country there are few alternatives, so both Peruvian researchers seek to implement this model and hope to receive support from the public and private sectors. “We will not wait another 30 years for this experience to be consolidated in Peru,” they affirm.

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