AuriNovo (ear implant)

2022: 3D printed ear and transplant to patient

In early June 2022, an implant printed on a 3D printer was surgically installed in a patient born with a small, incorrectly formed right ear - the procedure is doubly revolutionary, since the tissue of the artificial ear is made of the patient's own cells.

The surgery was performed as part of an ongoing clinical trial, which means that the technique must go through several more obstacles, including those related to safety, before entering the general medical repertoire. However, the biotech company 3D Bio, which carried out the successful procedure, calls it the first in the world.

For the first time, an ear was printed on a 3D printer and transplanted to a person

Шаблон:Quote 'We believe this is the first time a company has printed a whole, live, constructed structure and implanted it in a patient to replace a body part without which the patient was either born or lost to injury or illness, 3D Bio CEO Dan Cohen said. Cohen called the operation a particularly promising achievement for patients with microtia, the very disease suffered by a 20-year-old woman who received an ear transplant, and which, according to the Cleveland Clinic, affects one to five people out of every 10 thousand born. Microtia is a birth defect that leads to underdevelopment of the ears and can manifest in varying degrees of severity.

First, cells called chondrocytes, which are responsible for the formation of cartilage, which is crucial for the ears, were taken from the patient's sick ear. In this case, from the right ear, which studies have shown is most often affected by microtia. These cells were then cultured, which helped them multiply, so there was something to work with. When sufficient cells were obtained for the procedure, the team mixed them with collagen-based biochernils called ColVivo, which is a biological version of conventional printer ink compatible with medical-grade 3D printers.

After that, the team 3D-printed the AuriNovo implant, repeating the size and shape of the patient's left ear, covered it with a protective structural support and performed the operation. The exact details of the operation were not disclosed, in particular, because an article on this topic has not yet been published, but, according to representatives of 3D Bio, both the protective coating and the ear itself will eventually mature and fuse with the patient.^[1]