Dr. Mauricio Pedraza

Dr. Mauricio Pedraza is a consultant orthopaedic surgeon at Centro Médico Imbanaco in Cali — one of the most established and technologically advanced private hospitals in Colombia's Valle del Cauca region. Centro Médico Imbanaco has operated in Cali for decades and is recognised as a regional centre of excellence for complex surgical care, serving patients from across southwestern Colombia and from neighbouring countries including Ecuador and Peru.

With 20 years of orthopaedic practice, Dr. Pedraza has built a broad surgical profile encompassing two complementary domains: joint replacement arthroplasty and sports medicine arthroscopy. In arthroplasty, he performs total knee and total hip replacements using contemporary implant systems and surgical techniques — including minimally invasive approaches that reduce tissue disruption, blood loss, and recovery time compared with traditional methods. He also performs unicompartmental knee replacement for selected patients with isolated compartmental arthritis, preserving more native bone and allowing faster rehabilitation.

In sports medicine, Dr. Pedraza is experienced in the arthroscopic management of the knee and shoulder — the joints most frequently injured in sports and physically active people. His knee arthroscopy practice includes anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction using both patellar tendon and hamstring graft techniques, meniscus repair and partial meniscectomy, and cartilage restoration procedures for chondral defects. His shoulder arthroscopy expertise covers rotator cuff repair, labral reconstruction for shoulder instability, and biceps tendon procedures.

Dr. Pedraza maintains active involvement in orthopaedic continuing medical education, regularly attending national and international meetings to ensure his surgical techniques align with contemporary best practice. He is known within Centro Médico Imbanaco for his thorough preoperative consultation process, taking time to explain surgical options, expected outcomes, and realistic rehabilitation timelines to each patient before any procedure.

Dr. Pedraza completed his medical degree at the Universidad del Valle in Cali, followed by his Orthopaedic Surgery and Traumatology residency in Colombia, rotating through public and private surgical centres in the Valle del Cauca region. His residency provided exposure to a high volume and wide variety of orthopaedic trauma and elective cases, laying the foundation for a technically versatile surgical practice.

After qualifying as an orthopaedic surgeon, he pursued a fellowship in Joint Replacement and Reconstructive Surgery — training in the design and execution of primary and revision arthroplasty procedures including complex cases requiring augments, stems, and constraint adjustments. He subsequently completed additional structured training in sports medicine and arthroscopy, including a clinical attachment at a sports medicine centre with experience in high-performance athlete management.

Dr. Pedraza holds specialist certification from the Colombian Society of Orthopedic Surgery and Traumatology (SCCOT) and is a member of the Colombian Arthroscopy Society (SCA) and the International Society of Arthroscopy, Knee Surgery and Orthopaedic Sports Medicine (ISAKOS). He maintains his certification through regular participation in orthopaedic skills workshops, cadaveric surgical courses, and annual continuing medical education events.

Dr. Pedraza's orthopaedic surgical practice is divided between joint replacement arthroplasty and sports medicine arthroscopy. In arthroplasty, he performs primary total knee replacement using cruciate-retaining and posterior-stabilised implant systems, unicompartmental knee replacement, and total hip replacement via both posterior and anterolateral approaches, with experience in direct anterior approach (DAA) total hip replacement for selected patients who may benefit from its accelerated recovery profile.

He performs revision arthroplasty for failed primary knee and hip replacements, addressing challenges such as aseptic loosening, polyethylene wear, periprosthetic fracture, and periprosthetic joint infection. Revision cases require a higher level of surgical planning and implant selection expertise, and Dr. Pedraza has accumulated significant revision experience throughout his 20-year career.

In arthroscopic surgery, his knee practice includes ACL reconstruction with graft harvest and fixation, PCL reconstruction, meniscus repair using all-inside and inside-out techniques, partial meniscectomy, and microfracture or osteochondral autograft transfer (OATS) for cartilage lesions. His shoulder arthroscopy practice covers full-thickness and partial-thickness rotator cuff repair, Bankart repair for anterior shoulder instability, and SLAP lesion treatment. He also performs total shoulder replacement and reverse shoulder arthroplasty for end-stage glenohumeral arthritis and irreparable rotator cuff tears, respectively.

Dr. Pedraza has been involved in clinical outcome research at Centro Médico Imbanaco, contributing to the institution's efforts to systematically document and audit its surgical results. He has participated in multicentre Colombian studies evaluating implant survival and functional outcomes following total knee and hip replacement, providing data that informs national benchmarking for orthopaedic arthroplasty.

His clinical publications have appeared in Colombian orthopaedic journals, and he has presented his ACL reconstruction outcomes and knee replacement registry data at meetings of the Colombian Society of Orthopedic Surgery and Traumatology. His current research interests include evaluating the outcomes of direct anterior approach total hip replacement in Colombian patients and comparing graft options in primary ACL reconstruction by age group and activity level. He contributes to the Colombian orthopaedic evidence base at a time when locally generated data remains relatively limited compared with North American and European registries.

Dr. Pedraza conducts consultations in Spanish and English. Centro Médico Imbanaco has developed an international patient programme, and Cali has become increasingly recognised as a destination for medical tourism in orthopaedic surgery — offering high-quality joint replacement and sports medicine procedures at a fraction of the cost of equivalent surgery in the United States or Western Europe.

International patients seeking total knee replacement, total hip replacement, or arthroscopic sports surgery can arrange consultations with Dr. Pedraza through Centro Médico Imbanaco's international services team. Pre-visit video consultations are available for reviewing X-rays, MRI studies, and prior surgical reports, allowing Dr. Pedraza to confirm surgical suitability and provide an initial treatment plan before the patient travels to Cali. The hospital assists with medical translation, accommodation coordination near the hospital, and post-operative physiotherapy arrangements. Post-operative virtual follow-up visits can be conducted online for patients who have returned home after surgery.

Dr. Pedraza holds specialist certification from the Colombian Society of Orthopedic Surgery and Traumatology (SCCOT) and is a member of the Colombian Arthroscopy Society (SCA) and the International Society of Arthroscopy, Knee Surgery and Orthopaedic Sports Medicine (ISAKOS). Within Centro Médico Imbanaco, he has been recognised for his contributions to orthopaedic programme development and for consistently achieving high patient satisfaction scores in post-operative surveys. He has been a faculty instructor at national orthopaedic surgical skills workshops, teaching arthroscopic and arthroplasty techniques to younger Colombian surgeons. His commitment to continuing professional development and to generating Colombian-specific outcome data reflects his dedication to raising the standard of orthopaedic care in the Cali region.