Posted on 12/19/21
| News Source: JNS
A small percentage (0.1 to 0.3 percent) of people are born with congenitally deformed ears. This can have a severe psychological impact, and sometimes involves hearing loss.
While surgeons can reconstruct ears using cartilage harvested from a patient’s chest, the procedure is not usually performed until at least 10 years of age.
Researchers at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and Sheba Medical Center have developed a way to 3D-print “scaffolding” as the basis for a replacement ear.
The scaffold, which allows for the formation of an aesthetic and stable auricle (the visible part of the external ear), is designed from a CT scan of the patient’s ear and can be performed on children as young as six.