The woman who lost her face in France CancerA rare 3D printed nose transplant was performed on a patient.
Blood vessels were too small and complex to be weaved into the 3D printed structure. The nose needed a blood supply so surgeons attached the nose to the forearm, a region that is highly vascularized.
After two-months of growth on her arm the nose was moved onto the woman’s cheek during a six hour microsurgery to connect its new vessels to the temple.
After ten days of hospitalization and three weeks of anti-biotics, French surgeons at the Toulouse University Cancer Institute will be able to perform surgery in November 2022. They said that the patient “was doing very well”.
The patient said, “I was completely overwhelmed when I woke up on the following day.” Tell them to get on with itThe French daily newspaper Le MondeBy the end 2022.
“I haven’t been out in ten years. My husband and I decided to go to a restaurant soon.”
According to coverage from La Monde, one of the lead surgeons on the case, Agnès Dupret-Bories, was inspired to try implanting a 3D-printed nose after talking to a doctoral student in Belgium several years ago.
This student had been a biomaterials specialist who, while working in a 3D printer company called Cerhum, tested biosynthetic implant on cheekbones.
Dupret Bories, with the help of her colleague Benjamin Vairel in 2021, printed a replica nose utilizing hydroxyapatite (a natural mineral). The tooth is a form of teethThe bone.
The scaffolding was then decorated with skin and cartilage taken from the patient.
The implant was allowed to colonize naturally over a period of two months by tiny blood vessels taken from the forearm.
“Today the transplant was a success,” ReadsA translation of an article from November 2022, which was published on the Hospital Center University De Toulouse’s Facebook page.
The patient’s nose is finally back after nine years of unsuccessful nasal reconstructions.
Now she can reportedlyIt’s better than ever to smell.
Officials at the hospital said that “this type of reconstruction was never performed before on such a delicate and poorly vascularised region.” Tell them to get on with itThe London Daily News Evening Standard.
The surgeons in France hope to improve the implantation of body implants using the revolutionary technique in the future.
