primary
- Microtia affects about 1,500 children in the United States each year.
- The implant created from the patient’s ear cartilage is a procedure that the surgeon considers less invasive than current treatments.
Here’s the first: A medical team has succeeded in creating an ear transplant from human cells for a patient with microauricle, an abnormality of the outer part of the ear that hasn’t developed or hasn’t fully developed.
An implant created from human cells…
On one side of her face, this patient had a normally formed ear, but on the other, she was missing the outer part. To recreate it, doctors decided to graft it with an implant but for the first time, it was created from its own cells.
… from the cartilage of the ear
More specifically, his ear cartilage cells were used. But the researchers collected only a small amount, and then planted it to get more.
3D printer to make the implant
Once the necessary amount was obtained, a 3D printer manufactured the organ. Prior to this, a 3D impression was taken of the patient’s other ear – fully developed. Finally, the last step, is the implantation of this implant which has gone well.
“I’m excited about this technology”
“As a physician who has treated thousands of children with small ears across the country and the world, I am passionate about this technology and what it can mean for patients and their families.‘,” estimates Arturo Bonilla, operative surgeon and founder of an institute that specializes in treating this deformity, in San Antonio, Texas, in report.
Clinical trial conducted in the United States
This was the first operation in a clinical trial conducted in the United States to test the effectiveness of such an implant, called AuriNovo, for people with small ears. Eleven people are expected to attend.
Implant to replace current treatments
“This study will allow us to investigate the safety and aesthetic properties of the new ear reconstruction using the patient’s own cartilage cells.Arturo Bonilla, who hopes this implant will replace current methods of surgical reconstruction of the ear in the long term, explains.Which requires removal of the rib cartilage (on one side) Or the use of implants using a material called porous polyethylene“.
