A research group at University College London are using 3D printing to make artificial ears for children. Implantation trials are now underway.
The group is headed by Professor Alex Selfanian, who has found that the advantages of 3D printing far outweighs the manual synthesis of human organs.
At present, children may need several major surgical interventions to try and recreate an ear using rib cartilage implantation. With 3D printing, the team of surgeons have found a way of limiting the number of operations from about five to only one.
An undamaged ear is used as a template and scanned to make a 3D model. The printed scaffold can be implanted under skin in the arm. It develops blood vessels and skin over a period of a month or two. The process has been described as a way of making a type of “biological ink”.
A plastic surgeon takes the completed ear and attaches it carefully to the patient’s head.
It seems possible that this medical break-through, is likely to lead the 3D printing of other body organs.
12 children in Mumbai, India, who were born without ears, will be amongst the first to undergo the procedure.