A 3D-Printed Ear Has Been Transplanted into a Human

Technological developments that continue without slowing down around the world, in many areas to make progress allows. Health, which is of great importance for each of us, is one of the areas affected by these developments.

Now, its popularity has increased considerably in recent years. 3D printing technologies A big step has been taken in the field of health. Experts have succeeded in implanting a 3D-printed ear in a Mexican woman who has struggled with an ear problem all her life. have a normal sized ear provided.

Ear was obtained from woman’s cells

The woman named Alexa, who is stated to be 20 years old, has suffered from ‘absence of ears’ throughout her life.microtia’ He was born with a problem. On average, it is seen in one in 10,000 births; that is, this problem, which is stated to be quite rare, causes the ear to be deformed and abnormally to be underestimated why is this happening.

Experts wanted to take advantage of 3D printing technology for Alexa, who had to hide this ‘micro ear’ with her hair all her life, and signed an operation that will go down in history. In the news, your ear, the woman by 3D printing from their own cells It was reported that it was produced and transferred by doctors. It was also stated in the statements that this happened during the first manned experiments.

It was noted that the implant was developed by the regenerative medicine firm 3DBioTherapeutics. If we explain the process in a simple way; woman’s cells taken from the cartilage in the ear, It was divided into billions of cells and sent to the 3DBio company along with a 3D scan of the healthy ear. The company combined the cells with collagen-based bio-ink and placed them on a bioprinter to print, which took 10 minutes in total. After that, the obtained ear was sent to the surgeons.

In addition, it was announced that Alexa is one of 11 volunteers aged 6-25 who participated in clinical trials, and that these people will be followed for five years to see if the transplant is safe as a result of the tests. In addition, since this technology is quite new, it is not possible to determine whether the ear will be accepted by the body. not certain transferred. However, it was also among the explanations that the creation of the ear with cells taken from the patient’s body strengthens this possibility.

3D printing, which is thought to be the first time in history with the help of living tissues, is expected to shed light on the medical world in the future. Experts expect such transplants to be completed in a matter of hours and in the future. may be much more common. is thinking. Although ear transplantation to Alexa is an operation that prints more aesthetically, scientists believe that 3D printing technology will be used in the future. liver and kidney He thinks it can be used to replicate more vital organs, such as