DAILY SERIES · STORIES THAT SAVE
Three Colombian Inventions That Changed Hospitals
An IV bag sewn in by hand, a 45-kilo pacemaker that rode on a cart, and a valve that drains the brain when it looks like dementia and isn't: three Colombian inventions that today live in hospitals all over the world, told with the verified facts.
Educational content prepared with official health sources. Professional medical review pending.
No personalized diagnoses: consult your doctor.
📅 Published November 4, 2026 · 2-minute video · Full transcript included
Watch the direct video (without leaving this page) →
The bag we open with
This guide starts at the end: with an IV bag. Not with a million-dollar machine, but with the plastic sheet found in any operating room, sewn by hand to the edge of a wound. That bag saved more lives than many very expensive machines — and it is one of three inventions, born of Latin ingenuity, that today live in hospitals all over the world. All three were born in Colombia, and none was born in a million-dollar laboratory: they were born by facing a problem head-on and using whatever was at hand.
1 · Reynolds (1958): the pacemaker that rode on a cart
The first was born in 1958, the same year the modern pacemaker was being born around the world. Colombian engineer Jorge Reynolds built one of the first with its electrodes sewn directly onto the heart, backed by Clínica Shaio and a team led by surgeon Alberto Vejarano. The machine that powered it was enormous:
- It weighed 45 kilos and ran on a 12-volt car battery.
- It rode on a cart, connected to the patient by a 5-meter cable.
- The electrodes were sewn onto the heart; the generator stayed outside the body.
His first patient was a 70-year-old priest with a blocked heart. With that enormous machine, he lived 18 more years. It was the first pacemaker in Latin America — and today its descendant fits inside a coin —.
The fact, honestly: it was not "the first pacemaker in the world." Earlier came the through-the-skin external ones (Hopps, 1950; Zoll, 1952), Bakken and Lillehei's battery-powered portable (1957) and, in October of that same 1958, the first Swedish implantable by Elmqvist and Senning. Reynolds's achievement needs no exaggeration: one of the first in the world with electrodes on the heart, and the first on his continent, built in the year all of this was born.
2 · Hakim (1965): the valve that drains the brain
The second invention begins with a wrong diagnosis. Some people stop walking well, start forgetting things, and lose bladder control — the full triad, written just as it is named —, and everyone thinks it is dementia. But Colombian neurosurgeon Salomón Hakim discovered that, in some cases, something else is going on: fluid building up inside the brain, pressing on it little by little. It is normal pressure hydrocephalus.
In 1965 he described it together with Raymond Adams, and he created the valve that drains that extra fluid. The good news, with a real number: it is one of the few causes of mental decline that can be reversed. The first thing that improves is the way a person walks, and a 2024 meta-analysis (54 studies, 4,811 patients) found that nearly 3 out of 4 well-chosen patients get better after shunting. It is not a promise for everyone — patient selection and follow-up matter —, but it is a cause that can be fixed, and that is why it is worth knowing.
💙 When it looks like dementia… and it may be fixable
Hakim's story carries this guide's most valuable lesson: there is a cause of mental decline that can be reversed. If a family member walks poorly, forgets things, and lost bladder control, don't give up on them without asking — sometimes it is fluid building up in the brain (normal pressure hydrocephalus) and it has treatment —. Asking in time is also caring for them: the final word on their case belongs to their doctor, with the studies in hand.
3 · Borráez (1984): the Bogotá Bag
And the third is the bag we opened with. In March 1984, a second-year surgery resident, Oswaldo Borráez, faced an abdomen at Hospital San Juan de Dios that could not be closed: closing it would crush the organs, and leaving it open would be fatal. He took the plastic sheet from an IV bag — the kind found in any operating room — and sewed it to the edge of the wound.
The sheet held everything in, it did not stick to the intestines, and because it is transparent, it let the team see inside without reopening. It worked so well that the world named it after his city: the Bogotá Bag. The precision that does the story justice: Borráez did not invent the open abdomen — he invented its cover, with the humblest material in the operating room —. The technique lives on in trauma-surgery textbooks around the world.
The final table: three objects, one lesson
The pacemaker on its cart, the valve, and the IV sheet: none of the three was born in a million-dollar laboratory. They were born by facing a problem head-on and using whatever was at hand. And of the three stories, the one that can change a family's life today is the middle one: if a family member of yours walks poorly, forgets, and changed all of a sudden, do not give up on them without asking — sometimes there is a cause that can be fixed, and asking in time is also a way of caring for them —.
Ask this at your next visit
"Doctor, this thing that looks like dementia… could it be fluid on the brain — the cause that can actually be treated?"
Frequently asked questions
Was Reynolds's pacemaker the first in the world?
No — and this guide says it in plain words —. Before 1958 there were already through-the-skin external pacemakers (Hopps, 1950; Zoll, 1952) and a battery-powered portable one (Bakken/Lillehei, 1957); the first fully implantable pacemaker was Swedish (Elmqvist and Senning, October 1958). Reynolds's is one of the first in the world with its electrodes sewn directly onto the heart and the generator outside the body — and the first in Latin America —. Without exaggeration, that is already medical history.
What is normal pressure hydrocephalus?
It is fluid building up inside the brain and pressing on it little by little, described by Salomón Hakim and Raymond Adams in 1965. It is recognized by a triad: the person walks poorly (short, shuffling steps), forgets things, and loses bladder control. It mimics dementia — which is why it gets mistaken for it —, but unlike most causes, this one can be reversed with a valve that drains the extra fluid.
Does Hakim's valve "cure" dementia?
It does not cure "dementia" in general: it treats one specific cause that mimics it. In well-chosen patients, the 2024 meta-analysis (54 studies, 4,811 patients) found improvement in about 74%; gait improves the most (~72%). It is not for everyone — there are complications (~20%) and the valve sometimes needs revision (~15%) —, which is why a neurosurgeon does the evaluation. The hope here is real, but it comes with a number and a doctor.
Who can tell whether a family member has normal pressure hydrocephalus?
Only a doctor, with the medical history and brain imaging studies. The sign that makes it worth asking is the triad: walks poorly, forgets, and lost bladder control, with a clear change from how they were before. If that is happening to someone in your family, it is worth raising at the visit — sometimes there is a cause that can be fixed —.
Is the Bogotá Bag still used?
Yes: it is a living technique, cited in world textbooks of trauma and open-abdomen surgery. Borráez did not invent the open abdomen: he invented its cover, made from the IV bag's sheet — transparent, non-sticking to the intestines, and nearly free —. Hospitals with more resources often use negative-pressure therapy today, but the Bogotá Bag remains the universal option where those resources don't exist… and it keeps saving the day.
References
- Academic review of the history of the pacemaker in Colombia (citing Reynolds, 1988) · Engineer Jorge Reynolds Pombo designed and built the device in Bogotá with the backing of Clínica Shaio; it was implanted by a team led by surgeon Alberto Vejarano Laverde. The device was built in April 1958 and implanted in December 1958: two epicardial electrodes placed by thoracotomy, connected by about 5 meters of cable to an external generator powered by a 12-volt car battery, weighing approximately 45 kilos and carried on a cart. The first patient was a 70-year-old priest with total heart block, Gerardo Flórez, who lived 18 more years. (Medicina y Salud Pública / MedPass tells the same story of the patient.)
- Siemens Healthineers MedMuseum, "Stories from the Museum: the pacemaker" · The full history, so the claim stays honest: before 1958 there were already external transcutaneous pacemakers (John Hopps, Canada, 1950; Paul Zoll, USA, 1952) and a battery-powered portable external one wired to electrodes on the heart (Earl Bakken for C. Walton Lillehei, 1957–58). The first fully implantable pacemaker was Rune Elmqvist and Åke Senning's (Karolinska, Sweden), implanted on October 8, 1958. Reynolds's achievement is enormous without exaggeration: one of the first in the world with its electrodes sewn directly onto the heart and the generator outside the body — and the first in Latin America, in the very year the modern pacemaker was born.
- Hakim S, Adams RD. "The special clinical problem of symptomatic hydrocephalus with normal cerebrospinal fluid pressure." Journal of the Neurological Sciences 1965;2(4):307–327 (PMID 5889177), with the companion paper by Adams, Fisher, Hakim et al. in NEJM 1965;273:117–126 ("a treatable syndrome") · That is where the name normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH) and the Hakim-Adams syndrome are born. The classic triad: gait disturbance (the first symptom and the one that responds best), decline in memory and thinking, and urinary incontinence. In 1966 Hakim developed his one-way, pressure-controlled valve — the "Hakim valve" — which set the standard for shunt valves. His first case was in 1957: a 16-year-old in a coma after head trauma; after 15 ml of cerebrospinal fluid were drawn off, he spoke the next day (academic biography in Arquivos de Neuro-Psiquiatria, SciELO).
- American Academy of Neurology (AAN) practice guideline on normal pressure hydrocephalus (PMC4676757) · It describes NPH literally as "a treatable dementia": it mimics Alzheimer's or Parkinson's, but it has surgical treatment — it is one of the few reversible causes of cognitive decline —.
- Meta-analysis of shunt outcomes in NPH, eClinicalMedicine (The Lancet), 2024: 54 studies and 4,811 patients · About 74% of patients improve after shunting; gait improves the most (~72%), and memory and bladder control improve in ~50% each. The honest reading: improvements can show within days in dramatic cases, but the typical result is measured in weeks or months, it is not for everyone (about 20% complications and ~15% need a valve revision), and it depends on choosing the right patients. That is why the script says "well-chosen patients."
- Borráez O. "Abdomen abierto: la herida más desafiante." Revista Colombiana de Cirugía 2008;23(4):204-209 (the author's own account) · In March 1984, at Hospital San Juan de Dios, as a second-year surgery resident, Oswaldo Borráez faced an abdomen that could not be closed. His technique — described in "Abdomen abierto: utilización del polivinilo," Rev Colomb Cir 2001 —: take the polyvinyl sheet from the IV-solution bag, cut it to the size of the defect, and fix it with a continuous suture to the aponeurosis or the skin at the edge of the wound. It is a temporary cover: it holds the organs in, it does not stick to the intestines, it is transparent (you can see the cavity without reopening), and it costs almost nothing. International literature named it the "Bogotá Bag" (in Colombia also "Bolsa de Borráez"); Borráez did not invent the open abdomen itself — he invented its polyvinyl cover —, and the technique lives on in world trauma-surgery textbooks.
How to read this guide: three stories of ingenuity with whatever was at hand, told with verified facts — no unsupportable "first in the world" claims and no cure promises —. The practical lesson is a single one: when a decline looks like dementia, asking whether it might be the cause that can be fixed is also a way of caring for your family.
Full video transcript
This IV bag saved more lives than many million-dollar machines. And it is one of 3 inventions, born of Latin ingenuity, that today are found in hospitals all over the world.
The first was born in 1958, the same year the modern pacemaker was being born around the world. A Colombian engineer, Jorge Reynolds, built one of the first with its electrodes sewn directly onto the heart. The machine that powered it weighed 45 kilos, ran on a car battery, and rode on a cart, connected to the patient by a 5-meter cable. His first patient was a 70-year-old priest with a blocked heart. With that enormous machine, he lived 18 more years. It was the first pacemaker in Latin America, and today its descendant fits inside a coin.
The second invention begins with a wrong diagnosis. Some people stop walking well, start forgetting things, and lose control of their bladder, and everyone thinks it is dementia. But the Colombian neurosurgeon Salomón Hakim discovered that, in some cases, something else is going on: fluid building up inside the brain, pressing on it little by little. In 1965 he described it, and he created the valve that drains that extra fluid. It is one of the few causes of mental decline that can be reversed: the first thing that improves is the way a person walks, and nearly 3 out of 4 well-chosen patients get better.
And the third is the bag we opened with. In 1984, a second-year surgery resident, Oswaldo Borráez, faced an abdomen that could not be closed: closing it would crush the organs, and leaving it open would be fatal. He took the plastic sheet from an IV bag, the kind found in any operating room, and sewed it to the edge of the wound. The sheet held everything in, it did not stick to the intestines, and because it is transparent, it let the team see inside without reopening. It worked so well that the world named it after his city: the Bogotá Bag.
None of the three was born in a million-dollar laboratory. They were born by facing a problem head-on and using whatever was at hand. That is why, if a family member of yours walks poorly, forgets, and changed all of a sudden, do not give up on them without asking: sometimes there is a cause that can be fixed, and asking in time is also a way of caring for them. If you want the full guide to these stories, write INFO and we will send it to you. We are not doctors: this is information so you arrive prepared. See you tomorrow.
🎬 Video from Red de Salud Hispana's daily series. Also on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram.
Need a specialist in California?
Leave us your name, your phone number or your email, and we'll contact you with the information about the service you're looking for. We'll connect you with a specialist who speaks your language. No commitment.
We currently refer patients in California only. Your information is only used to contact you about this service; we don't share or sell it. This is not medical advice.
Want to keep learning how your body works?
This video is part of our daily series: every day, one health topic explained with animation, with the studies cited and the question worth bringing to your visit.
Watch all the videos in the series →