Physicians transplanted the first 3D-printed ear in a woman using her own cells, The New York Times reported June 2.
3DBio Therapeutics, the regenerative medicine company based in New York that produced the ear, said it was printed in a shape that "precisely matched" the original ear and will continue to regenerate cartilage tissue, which will give it the look and feel of a natural ear.
The ear was implanted in March as part of an ongoing clinical trial featuring 11 patients.
"This is so exciting, sometimes I have to temper myself a little bit," Arturo Bonilla, MD, a pediatric ear reconstructive surgeon at the Microtia-Congenital Ear Deformity Institute in San Antonio who performed the implant surgery, told the Times. "If everything goes as planned, this will revolutionize the way this is done."