New PUCP patent: mask that helps heal severe burns

Héctor Alegría Cortez and Jorge Leiva García, students of Biomedical Engineering at PUCP - UPCH, were looking for new ways to help patients who had suffered some kind of burn. By taking the Fundamentals of Biodesign course, they delved into various treatments and procedures for the rehabilitation of scars. Thus was born the idea of "the semi-rigid pressure therapy mask with pressure sensors", which provides an effective and non-invasive solution.

In March this year, the invention successfully met the requirements for approval as a Utility Model patent, granted by Indecopi for a period of 10 years. Along with our students, the team in charge of designing the mask includes Jean Pierre Tincopa, Andrés Arturo Rodríguez, lecturers and researchers in Biomedical Engineering at UPCH, and Etsel Lemy Suárez, a student of the Master's Degree in Biomedical Engineering at PUCP.

"This patent is a milestone in the PUCP-UPCH Biomedical Engineering career, as it demonstrates the ability of our students to create technology made entirely in our country. By protecting and patenting it, we can disseminate the capabilities we have to contribute to society," says Dr. Benjamín Castañeda, coordinator of the PUCP-UPCH Biomedical Engineering Speciality.

How does it work?

"Currently, the method of obtaining a pressotherapy mask is by sedating patients who have suffered some kind of burn. Our proposal aims to be non-invasive, since, through 3D scanning, there is no contact with the face. This way we can obtain a digital model of the patient and then print the mask in a personalised way," describes Héctor Alegría.

This low-cost mask is ideal for second- and third-degree facial burns, as it exerts and measures pressure on specific areas of the face using strain gauges.

In Peru, there is no treatment with custom-made semi-rigid 3D printed masks. Therefore, this invention would allow patients to have a rehabilitative treatment focused on prevention, in addition to providing those affected with the least amount of preventable sequelae.

Obtaining the patent for "the semi-rigid pressure therapy mask with pressure sensors" would not have been possible without the support of the Intellectual Property Office of the PUCP, who provided the resources to register the invention.