Doctors breed artificial ear in the forearm of a patient
A plastic surgeon from China performed a spectacular procedure: he made a new ear from rib tissue and transplanted it to a patient's forearm. The newly developing sensory organ is to be transplanted to the head in three to four months, said the physician Guo Shuzhong to the daily newspaper "China Daily".
Patient suffered severely from the loss
It sounds somewhat strange at first, but could soon bring a significantly better quality of life to a man from China: an artificial ear made of rib cartilage that develops in the patient's forearm and is later to be transplanted to the head. Vollbracht has received this once-only intervention from Chinese doctor Guo Shuzhong from the Jiaotong University Hospital in Xi'an, reports "China Daily".
The late thirty-year-old Mr. Ji had lost his right ear in a traffic accident a year ago and has suffered severely from the loss since then. "I always felt incomplete," according to the Chinese news site "Huanqiu".
Chinese doctors develop artificial sensory organs: In the last step, the artificial ear is to be transplanted to the head of the man. (Image: Kwangmoo / fotolia.com)Physicians develop three-stage reconstruction plan
Guo Shuzhong, who has more than 30 years experience in reconstructive surgery, took the matter and worked with his colleague Shu Maoguo on a three-stage plan to reconstruct the ear with part of the patient's rib cartilage. In the first phase, the doctors inserted a skin expander into the patient's right forearm and regularly injected water to stretch the skin.
In the second phase, they removed part of the costal cartilage and formed a new auricle. This was then transplanted under the dilated skin in order to develop accordingly.
"The third phase of the operation, with the new ear being transplanted to Ji's head, is scheduled to be completed in three or four months," said Shu Maoguo. Because in order to be able to adapt the ear "perfectly" for the patient, one would have to wait until the artificial sensory organ had completely grown.
Ear transplantation should be the last intervention
The grafting of the artificial sensory organ is supposed to be the last intervention after a long series of previous operations since the accident. Due to severe facial injuries, Ji initially had to undergo several reconstructions in the mouth and jaw area.
Whether Mr. Ji with the new pinna in the future actually can hear something again, is not yet clear. Because for the full functionality is among other things an intact inner ear necessary. However, according to the report, the patient is very happy with the result. "It looks exactly like my old ear," Ji said after seeing the growing ear on his right arm for the first time.
Method has been used for some time
Ji's story is not the first case where physicians made an artificial ear. In 2012, for example, the method had been applied to the then 41-year-old American Sherrie Walter. According to the ABC News, the woman lost her ear as a result of skin cancer. At that time, too, the patient's doctors removed cartilage from the thorax to form a new ear. This was then placed under the skin of the forearm to grow. After four months, the new ear was transplanted to the head. (No)