This is a major clinical first: an ear made from a patient’s own cells and printed in 3D has been successfully transplanted in the United States.
This 20-year-old American patient suffered from microtia, a birth defect where one or even both outer ears are missing or underdeveloped. It affects about 15 births out of 100,000 in Europe. And reconstruction was very difficult until then.
The feat was achieved by the team of Arturo Bonilla, founder and director of Microtia-Congenital Ear Deformity Institute. This implant, called AuriNovo, was developed by the biotechnology company specializing in regenerative medicine 3DBio Therapeutics.
How was the prosthetic ear designed?
Concretely, the specialists took cartilage cells from the patient and cultured them in the laboratory. They were then mixed with collagen hydrogel. Then, all they had to do was “print the result in 3D, in the shape of the healthy ear.
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Until now, the surgical techniques allowing the reconstruction of the ear were more invasive, since they required the removal of costal cartilage or the use of porous polyethylene implants (PPE). This new technique, if validated by the ongoing clinical trial for five years and on ten other patients, will be much less invasive. It has another significant advantage: the ear should follow the growth and evolution of the transplant recipient.
This technological advance could also open the way to other discoveries for other types of reconstruction, orthopedic in particular.