First Middle-Ear Transplant: The Ossicles

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Recently a group of South African surgeons from University of Pretoria, lead by Professor Tshifularo, successfully preformed the world's first transplant of the middle ear bones. Using a 3-D printed components they were able to replace the malleus, incus, and stapes- which are the smallest bones in the human body. These bones make up the middle ear and with infection, trauma, congenital birth defects or metabolic diseases can cause conductive hearing loss. 

The patient was a 35 year old man who was in a car accident which resulted in his middle ear being shattered. Through replacing only the ossicles, which were not functioning properly, the procedure carries less risk than other prostheses such as implants and the surgical procedure which is associated. This approach increases the chance of success with minimal intrusion trauma. This procedure also reduces the chance of facial nerve paralysis, which can occur in traditional surgery due to the facial nerve, which passes through the middle ear, being damaged. Professor Tshifularo, the developer of this procedure, says they use titanium due to it being biocompatible. They also use an endoscope, a slender tubular instrument used to look deep into the body, which allows minimal scarring and a quick recovery time. 

As we learned in class the ossicles are responsible for transmitting sound from the outer ear to the inner ear through mechanical vibration. Once the vibrations reach the cochlea they are translated into nerve impulses which the brain then interprets as sound. Despite their small size, being no larger than an orange seed, they are central to hearing.

Since this occurred in a different country the only articles I could find were from South African outlets. I was able to find this specific article posted by the South African Government Department of Health. I originally heard about this on social media and wanted to look into it so see if it was even true. I highly suggest taking the time to look into medical procedures using 3D technology. 3D printed prosthesis can cost up to $100,00 which can be very costly for a person needing them but recently they have been the most beneficial solution. 

Comments

  1. Katie LarkinApril 17, 2019 at 1:09 PM

    Hi Carly,

    This is so neat! I know it can be ridiculously expensive and only the rich may be able to afford it for the foreseeable future, any gain of knowledge that allows us to help others is a win!

    The first time I heard about 3-D printing was in high school when my professor mentioned the ability of the 3-D printer to print simple objects and fast forward a few years later and now we have the ability to print organs vital for human life, such as the heart and the middle ear bones you mentioned!

    I think the ability to print ear structures is especially significant because the comorbidity relationship of hearing loss and depression that we learned about in class. And as hearing conversation, music and the general sounds of the world around you allow you to do such amazing things like stimulate different areas of your brain, allow you to more easily engage in and keep meaningful relationships and to keep you safe in general- it's no wonder that hearing ability can have a strong correlation to quality of life. The fact that a 3-D printer has the ability to print human ear structures, therefore allowing people to experience life to the fullest again again, is truly amazing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Chantel SimoesApril 17, 2019 at 5:09 PM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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  3. Chantel SimoesApril 17, 2019 at 5:10 PM

    Hi Carly,

    I had no idea this was possible. I learned a lot about the structure of the ear in my Physio Psychology class! Those 3 ossicles are in the middle ear and send vibrations to the cochlea! Which then sends it to the organ of corti which is the main organ of hearing! I went on to do some research about work done in the United States. There hasn’t been any transplants of ossicles but there are cochlear implants that have been successful for restoring hearing, which I also didn’t know ever happened. I learned that middle ear implants are the newest high-tech additions to the hearing aid rehabilitation field, and its been finally approved for use in the United States! MEIS are used for persons with sensorineural hearing losses and normal middle ear function. Hopefully we can bring this new ossicles transplants to the United States at a bit cheaper cost so more people can benefit from it. Really interesting blog!

    https://journals.lww.com/thehearingjournal/fulltext/2001/08000/Middle_ear_implants__A_new_technology.6.aspx

    ReplyDelete
  4. Robert ZeiglerApril 19, 2019 at 3:09 PM

    Hey Carly,

    This was amazing to read, I saw a headline on my NPR app about this and never got around to reading it until you posted about it! This is huge for the deaf community, giving hopeful wishes of regaining the ability to hear. Dr.McGinley just opened the beginning of class about 3D printers recreating a heart, even though it was incredibly tiny. The thing is it is very possible in the future to come. Repairing the 3 ossicles got me thinking about people who are blind or have damage to parts in their eyes oddly enough. I know people can get surgery on iris in order to change their eye color, which has been successfully done overtime. I wondered if the 3D printer could produce/create a retina to restore rods and cones or other parts of the eye regaining vision. Awesome choice in your blog article.

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