A 20-year-old woman has reportedly become the first patient to undergo a successful ear transplant using a technology called 3D printing that uses a person’s own cells to grow the implant.
As reported by the New York Times, the woman, who is only referred to as Alexa from Mexico, was born with a rare birth defect that caused the outer part of her right ear to grow small and misshapen.
Dr. Arturo Bonilla, a pediatric ear reconstructive surgeon in San Antonio, Texas who performed the operation, began by removing half a gram of cartilage from Alexa’s ear and making a 3D scan of her healthy left ear, the Times wrote. He then sent this material to 3DBio Therapeutics, a company based in Queens, New York that specializes in regenerative medicine.
3DBio used the tissue sample to grow billions of cells that were then mixed with the company’s collagen-based ink, which was inserted into a specialized 3D bio-printer to create a mirror replica of the patient’s healthy ear. The whole process reportedly took less than 10 minutes.
The printed ear was then shipped overnight in cold storage to Dr. Bonilla, who implanted the ear under Alexa’s skin, just above her jawbone. The operation took place in March, and 3DBio says that the ear will continue to regenerate cartilage tissue until it eventually has the look and feel of a natural ear.