'Groundbreaking' Surgery Gives Woman a 3-D Printed Ear Made of Human Cells

In a "groundbreaking" surgery, doctors transplanted a 3-D printed ear made of human cells on a 20-year-old woman.

The first-of-its-kind surgery was part of a clinical trial conducted by 3DBio Therapeutics, a clinical-stage regenerative medicine company, and the Microtia-Congenital Ear Deformity Institute. The ear was created using cells from woman who received the transplant, who was born with a small and misshapen right ear, The New York Times reported.

The surgery is part of a clinical trial to test3DBio's AuriNovo implant. The company hopes to gain approval for the procedure and aid others born with microtia, a rare congenital deformity where one or both outer ears are absent or underdeveloped. Microtia affects approximately 1,500 babies born in the US per year.

The woman's new ear was printed in a shape that precisely matched her left ear, according to 3DBio Therapeutics. It was transplanted in March, and will continue to regenerate cartilage tissue, giving it the look and feel of a natural ear, the company told the outlet.

This implant procedure was performed by a team led by Arturo Bonilla, M.D., a leading pediatric ear reconstructive surgeon specializing in the deformity and the founder and director of the Microtia-Congenital Ear Deformity Institute in San Antonio, Texas.

"As a physician who has treated thousands of children with microtia from across the country and around the world, I am inspired by what this technology may mean for microtia patients and their families," said Dr. Arturo Bonilla, the pediatric ear reconstructive surgeon who performed the surgery, said in a press release.

Bonilla added that his "hope is that AuriNovo will one day become the standard-of-care" and can replace the current treatment, which requires "invasive" surgery to harvest rib cartilage or the use of plastic implants.

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3DBio's Chief Executive Officer Daniel Cohen said the successful transplant was "a truly historic moment."

"We believe that the microtia clinical trial can provide us not only with robust evidence about the value of this innovative product and the positive impact it can have for microtia patients, but also demonstrate the potential for the technology to provide living tissue implants in other therapeutic areas in the future," he said.

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The clinical trial, which includes 11 patients, is still ongoing, and there is a chance that other transplants will not be as successful. But the company and doctors believe that because the new ears are made from the patients' own cells, they won't be rejected.

"This is so exciting, sometimes I have to temper myself a little bit," Bonilla told the Times. "If everything goes as planned, this will revolutionize the way this is done," he said.