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PeekMed is a 3D pre-operative planning system for orthopedic surgery which aims to help the surgeon better treat the patient while reducing costs and time.
About
Every year in the US there are over 1 million orthopedic surgeries, only knee and hip, and every hospital has to deal with: • Sterilization costs, wasting $ 525 million per year (only knee and hip, $75 per instrument set); • Operating Room usage optimization; • 60% of medical errors, where 25% are communication related issues (Reported by AAOS). PeekMed system is changing how surgeons plan and train all orthopedic procedures with a full-package ecosystem. PeekMed provides orthopedists with a more realistic stereoscopic vision of what most of the times is unexpected in surgery. With PeekMed the orthopedic surgeon is able to perform any surgical planning by interacting with PeekMed’s patent-pending technology: a model created from the patient’s medical image (CT/MRI/X-ray) and the prosthetic templates in the same environment at scale. PeekMed aims to help the surgeon to better treat the patient while reducing costs and time, such as: • Reduce surgery time in 20%; • Reduce sterilization costs in 50% per surgery; • Increase the efficiency and accuracy of the team by analyzing the patient’s lesion in different angles. With PeekMed’s 2D/3D environment, it is possible to anticipate the surgery and to predict some post-surgical complications. This auxiliary tool allows the surgeon to understand the impact of the solution found on the surrounding body structures, since it is possible to visualize different body structures, such as muscle. PeekMed’s innovative software (cross platform, both Mac OSX and Windows) also allows segmenting the 3D generated model into small structures, so these can be moved or removed if a visibility obstruction problem occurs. This way, the orthopedist can better and more easily understand the patient’s injury, and which steps to take in the moment of the surgery. The main goal is to provide surgeons with an ecosystem which helps them developing a proper pre-operative planning by fully understanding the patient’s problem, the right prosthetic materials (and their exact dimensions) he will need in the operating room to perform the surgery, the type of correction needed, basically everything about the intervention within a couple of minutes.
Key Benefits
PeekMed is a novel way to virtually plan all kinds of orthopedic procedures, granting a competitive advantage over the present existing 2D solutions. In a very intuitive and simple way, the orthopedist is able to perform any surgical planning in a 2D/3D environment, where he can freely manipulate and intersect the 3D models from body structures and the digital representations of the prosthetic material planned for surgery usage, which can be individually manipulated, in order to understand the impact of the solution. This is one of the key differentiation factors and a technological advancement over the competition. The surgeon can use either x-rays, CT scans or MRI to perform the pre-operative planning. There are several automated steps for specific procedures in order to automatize the planning process and make it easier and faster. PeekMed is extremely simple to integrate with the current PACS system installed in the Hospital and that’s the only integration needed. The task of evaluating and choosing the most adequate material for the surgery is therefore facilitated, allowing a total anticipated surgery perception and the possibility to predict some post-surgical complications. Besides the advantage of having the possibility of performing the surgery planning in a 3D environment, the orthopedist is also assisted by 2D plans (Axial, Coronal or Sagittal). These viewing planes are updated in real time, even when the 3D template representations are inserted, thus enabling the orthopedist to have a clear vision of what is to be expected in the real surgery. PeekMed was developed since day one with the surgeon in the spotlight, by developing small features and test them with our users. PeekMed features a simple and intuitive UI/UX design (User Interface and User Experience) allowing the surgeon, despite the short amount of time available, to plan the surgery in a quick, easy, and effective way. With all the feedback we gathered during the first days of PeekMed, we were able to develop a software that fits all the surgeon’s needs. Currently, there is a growing interest in the use of 3D technology and mobile applications in healthcare. Due to the many requests PeekMed has been getting, we developed an iPad version which works as an extension of the desktop version and where the user can review his 3D planning or make additional measurements. More than ever the surgeon needs to be mobile and paperless, due to his work in several Healthcare facilities on a work week. With PeekMed ecosystem he can plan and train his surgery on his laptop, send the final result (and report) to his iPad and review and discuss with his team. Nevertheless, there are several complex surgeries in which would be great to actually “feel” the bones before opening the patient. 3D printing for healthcare is an example of a technology getting a massive hype. That’s why PeekMed started to test this technology by printing 3D models generated from its algorithms. This way the user can actually “feel” the bones before surgery. These real 3D models alongside with our software provide the surgeon with multiple tools to evaluate his procedure and share/discuss with his team and his patient. The advantages of PeekMed’s ecosystem can be identified for 3 different entities: Orthopedic surgeons: With PeekMed they can plan and train their surgeries, improving their accuracy and efficiency. The surgeon can now discuss with the team the best approach and present to the patient his plan for the surgery; Healthcare facilities: Since the surgical team knows exactly all the steps beforehand, the surgery duration will decrease, therefore, the number of surgeries per amount of time will increase. Moreover, the team knows all the material needed and its size, so instead of sterilizing 7 or 8 instrument sets with different sizes, they can sterilize 1 or 2, decreasing dramatically the sterilization costs; Patient: The patient will feel much more confidence in a team that actually planned and studied his procedure in detail, boosting the probability of a good surgical outcome.
Applications
PeekMed intends to be disruptive in their market entry in the orthopedic market. Contrary to competition, we developed an ecosystem which redefines how the orthopedic surgeon performs the surgical planning and train, through a need found in our target audience, the orthopedists. The market for preoperative surgical planning system is growing. It is estimated to exist 300k healthcare facilities worldwide, growing with a CAGR of 5,1%. On average, a competitors’ planning system costs 9,5k€, creating an almost 3B€ of TAM. However, by latest reports, almost 89% of is untapped, which means, healthcare facilities without any kind of pre-op planning solution, creating a huge market opportunity which Peek Health wants to get. Currently, there is a growing interest in the use of 3D technology. Almost daily new innovations arise in this field. This market is expanding, and companies from different areas are in need of professionals who master this technology. The 3D printing industry is an example of this market, being a technology that can be used in various other fields. Furthermore, the orthopedic industry is growing at an estimated rate of 3.5% due to many factors such as obesity and aging. In 2020 are expected 6.6 million orthopedic surgeries worldwide.PeekMed’s software will revolutionize the market for orthopedic surgical planning solutions, approximating our technology to the emerging technologies. PeekMed system is designed and prepared to compete on a global scale, based on a clear highly innovative product differentiation strategy, since this is a key factor to the success of internationalization efforts. PeekMed’s market was segmented according to the value proposition: • Orthopedic surgeons – According to Eurostat, in 2012, the number of existing orthopedists in Portugal was about 1100, whereas in Europe was about 61 000. AAOS said, in the EUA, there was about 28 000 orthopedic surgeons in 2012, and that there should be 6.5 per 100 000 inhabitants. So, the expected number of orthopedic surgeons worldwide is about 450 000; • Healthcare facilities – This segment includes both private and public sectors. We estimate the existence of about 300 000 hospitals and clinics worldwide from both sectors. The planned business strategy allows PeekMed to be easily globalized, not being restricted to a specific potential market or geographic area. However, the company’s target is geographic areas that have an easy access to technology.