A 3D-printed ear made from human cells was successfully attached to a microtia patient. Experts led the surgical study from 3DBio Therapeutics. The medical innovation allows people to obtain their hearing abilities and still have an intact ear organ.
3DBio Therapeutics Successfully Implanted Cell-Based Artificial Ear
A living replica of Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh's famously severed ear is displayed at Culture and media museum ZKM, in Karlsruhe, southwestern Germany, on June 4, 2014. The ear is part of the exhibition "Sugababe" by Diemut Strebe, an artist specializing in artworks using biological material, who collaborated with scientists to reconstruct the Dutch master's ear using DNA from a relative and 3D printers. The show will be on display in Karlsruhe until July 6, 2014, before moving to New York in early 2015.
The study was relayed through the participation of a 20-year-old woman born with a congenital disorder known as microtia. The individual had the ear appendage installed on her hearing system through the efforts of scientists from surgical experts at the 3DBioTherapeurics last March.
The experts said that the organ was constructed through the patient's cells, and its shape was taken out of a mirror design of her working ear, NBC News reports.
Other scientists consider this demonstration the first-ever successful operation attaching 3D-printed tissue to a human body.
The breakthrough surgical technique offers investment and other possibilities regarding 3D-printed human parts made from biological cells. This would also work in other research that develops answers to medical therapies related to the field of regenerative studies.
Carnegie Mellon University's biomedical engineering specialist Adam Feinberg explained that these innovative approaches would help us gain more knowledge and interest in the borders between science fiction and reality. Feinberg is also a chief biotechnology expert at a 3D bioprinting firm Fluidform.
Microtia commonly appears in newborns. These patients have deformed outer ears, called appendages, and are sometimes absent from their system.
3DBio Therapeutics CEO and co-founder Dan Cohen says that many children affected by microtia, especially those who do not have an ear, experience issues in both social and psychological aspects of their life.
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3D Printed Organs for Surgery
Current surgical solutions for the condition include carving out a part of a patient's rib cage and modifying it as the cartilage of their ear.
Compared to this conventional technique, the 3D printing-based mechanism creates the organ out of the best object, minimizing the work done on an individual's body while keeping the whole procedure safe and without additional complications.
3D printing is one of the largest technological innovations of the century. The utilization of this method caters to a wide array of applications such as house construction to producing recycled tools for the International Space Station.
Before attaching the artificial ear, experts initially scanned the working ear of the woman and used its 3D model to design the other ear. The material used for printing was a collagen-based solution called 'bioink,' as well as the cultured living cells extracted from the system of the individual. A biodegradable shell protects the shape of the appendage to keep its healing properly and let the cartilage generate over time.
The successful operation last March was part of a wider clinical trial involving 11 patients who have microtia. The surgery was led by International Center for Ear Reconstruction specialist Arturo Bonilla.
In a press release, Bonilla explained that the research would allow us to obtain a more effective solution to ear reconstruction with safe and aesthetic features for the patients using their cartilage cells.
He added that their team hopes it would be standard care that would replace the current measures involving invasive approaches and requires additional surgical operations on their rib cage and uses porous polyethylene implants.
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