3D technology prints ear model, the first transplant is completed

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It has been more than 30 years since the birth of the world's first commercial 3D printer. With the advancement of technology, 3D printing has become more and more closely related to our lives. In recent years, this advanced technology has gradually penetrated into the medical field. At present, 3D printing has covered many scenarios such as surgical model rehearsal, orthopedic implants, surgical navigation, medical rehabilitation equipment, etc., and has also developed in the field of organ printing.

Previously, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University used their free-form reversible embedding of suspended hydrogels (FRESH) technology to create the first full-scale 3D bioprinted digital model of a human heart. This novel additive manufacturing method allows not only the creation of complex organ features but also organ functional properties. Undoubtedly, this has greatly stimulated the exploration of 3D printed organs.

3DBio Therapeutics, a regenerative medicine implant technology company, has announced that it has successfully transplanted a 3D printed ear made from human cells into a woman born with a rare ear deformity. This transplant marks a big step forward in 3D printed tissue engineering.

Microtia, a type of ear deformity, affects about 1,500 babies in the United States each year with microtia, a condition in which one or both ears are underdeveloped or completely missing. Typically, patients with microtia have ears made of rib grafts or synthetic materials. But in this study, the researchers took living tissue from a patient's ear, extracted cartilage cells, and then grew these cells and 3D printed them into the shape of the patient's ear.

Unlike 3D printing internal organs, printing ears is significantly simpler, and compared with livers, ears are not necessary to maintain human life, so the success rate in human experiments is higher. Also, because the ear is made from the patient's own cells, there is less chance of rejection.

Although 3D printing organ technology can not only solve the problem of organ supply, but also reduce the rejection reaction, but the current high cost of 3D printing equipment and medical products, not only ordinary patients can not afford, even most medical institutions can not afford. In addition, for some small and difficult operations with small tissue structure, how to achieve the precision and standardization of the operation through 3D printing is also an urgent problem that needs to be broken through.

In any case, the application of 3D printing organ technology in the medical field has become a trend. Once problems of materials, cost, and accuracy are overcome, it is believed that the 3D printing medical market will achieve breakthroughs.