New technology creates fake ear like and works like real ears

(Biologists and physicians at Cornell have created an artificial ear using 3D printing techniques and injection molds - this ear looks and acts like an ear. nature - giving new hope to thousands of babies born with congenital malformations called microtia (congenital anomaly).

>>>Recreating ears from patient cells

In a study published online February 20 in Cornell's biomedical engineers and doctors at Weill Cornell Medical School described 3D printing techniques and gel injections made from living cells. can make ears that look like human ears. Over a period of about 3 months, these flexible ears develop cartilage to replace collagen (glue) which is used to cast them.

'This is the victory of both medicine and basic science, it proves what we can achieve when working together,' said lead researcher Lawrence Bonassar. Lawrence Bonassar is an associate professor of biomedical engineering.

This new ear may be the long-term solution that reconstructive surgeons want to create to help deformed-born children, co-author Dr. Jason Spector, director of the Bioregenerative Medical Laboratory and Surgery and an assistant professor of plastic surgery at Weill Cornell, New York City.

'An alternative to bioengineering like this will also help people who have lost part or all of the outer ear (ear flaps) in accidents or cancer , ' Spector said.

Replacement ears are usually constructed of porous materials, or sometimes the surgeon takes a patient's rib to create new ears.

This option is challenging and painful for children, and the ears rarely look completely natural or function well.

To create the ears, Bonassar and colleagues began with a 3D digital image of a person's ear and transformed the image into a digital 'solid' ear using 3D printing technology. to create an ear mold.

The gel density is high enough to ensure Jell-o's stability when the mold is removed. The gel acts as a support so that cartilage can grow.

The process is also very fast, Bonassar added: 'It takes about half a day to design the mold, another day or half a day to print the mold, 30 minutes to inject the gel and 15 minutes later we can get the ear. out. We revised it a little bit and then left it stable for a few days in the cell culture environment before it was implanted. '

Microtia malformations occur when the outer ear is not fully developed, the probability of having this malformation ranges from 1 to more than 4 cases per 10,000 births per year. Many children born with this defect have an intact inner ear, but have hearing loss due to a lack of external structure of the ear.

Spector and Bonassar have been collaborating on human prostheses for research since 2007. They study on many cartilage-derived structures, such as joints, trachea, spine, nose - because Cartilage does not need to supply blood vessels but still exists and grows.

'Using human cells, especially the same cells of the same patient, will minimize the possibility of a new re-creation agency's rejection ,' Spector said.

He added that the best time to implant an artificial ear for a child is at the age of 5 or 6 years. At that age, children's ears reach 80% of their size as adults. If all tests show the safety and efficacy, the earliest Cornell bio-technical ear implant could be performed in three years, Spector said.