Printing 3D Implantable Ears

Bioengineers at Cornell have figured out a way to 3D print an implantable human ear.  Each year 1 to 4 of 10,000 babies are born with a condition called microtia.  In this condition the infant's outer ear (or ears) is undeveloped.  In many cases the child's inner ear is intact but hearing is lost because of the lack of the external structure.  Currently, replacement ears are made from a sampling of the patient's rib cartilage, but these ears don't look or feel natural and perform poorly.  This new replacement ear could be used to fix the hearing of both children born with microtia as well as trauma and cancer patients who may have lost the external structure of their ear.

Starting with a digitalized 3D image of an ear, Lawrence Bonassar, associate professor of biomedical engineering at Cornell University, used a 3D printer to build a 3D plastic mold of the ear.  The mold was then injected with collagen and living cartilage cells and left to culture for several days before it was ready for implantation.

Cow cartilage is currently being used, but Bonassar and his colleagues are in the process of trying to find a way to use human cartilage instead, potentially even from the same patient to decrease the likelihood of rejection.  Researchers have tested whether the materials used for the mold would become living, useful collagen by implanting a small piece of the mold into rats. After 3 months the "cells took over the collagen, making for a solid-yet-flexible chunk of cartilage that retained its precise shape and size."  This device is not ready for human implantation but could be in as little as 3 to 5 years as soon as a suitable source of collagen can be found.

Links Here and Here