The evolution of science that has greeted this era has not left behind the field of medical sciences. Before now, we have seen how a nose was grown on a man's forehead, which was later cut and used to fix his own damaged nose.
We are now in the era where; organs can be made to grow artificially; or rather, where the skin can be reprogrammed to grow new organs. And this advancement has been demonstrated evidently, where; recently, scientists created an entirely new ear for a child using his own stem cell. Welcome to the era of medical possibilities.
Before we continue, let us take a look at what necessitated this discovery.
According to research, between 0.01% - 0.00125% of children are born with a congenital condition known as "Microtia-anotia", where the external ear; pinna, is either underdeveloped or completely missing.
The earlier option to salvage this condition was: using a medpor (polyethylene plastic) to construct the ear, or opting for ear prosthesis. But these have their own downturns, just like any other prosthesis. There was also another process which required that a portion of the rib is harvested, and used to re-construct the ear. But the risks involved in this were not commensurate to the success margin. Then a better alternative needed to be sought out. And that was how the idea of growing ear came to be.
The earliest idea to this feat dated back to the early 1990s, where scientists discovered that it was possible to grow human ear on mouse. The first subject was the "Vacanti mouse"
Though the procedure raised controversy, but it blazed the trail for new researches to be made. That was actually the first major step, and since then, advances are being made on this.
Then recently, a team of scientists from the Jiao Tong University Shanghai; China, led by professor Guangdoug zhou created a degradable ear which was populated by stem cells from a child that was born with microtia-anotia.
The structure of the ear is such that; once the ear is fully grown, the synthetic structure would dissolve, leaving only the ear grown from the stem cell. This, no doubt, has revolutionized the field of medicine; as organs can now be grown from the patient's stem cell (could it be farewell to organ donation?).
The first successful subject to receive this kind of procedure has been seen to be fully restored after 30months.
The synthetic structure has completely dissolved, leaving only the grown ear, which is as normal as the other side. Isn't that fascinating?
Though this was the first attempt, but a couple of other children have been seen to have received this procedure at the same Jiao Tong University.
But according to professor Guangdon:
In some cases, the final shape of the ear could be distorted and may still require aesthetic surgery to reconstruct the ear. - Prof Guangdon [Paraphrased by me]
But this has not only brought hope to people with ear deformity, but has also brought new promises of advancement to the field of medical science.
The future of this procedure
Believe me, this is just a springboard to propel us into what lies ahead. In nearest future, this procedure could find practical application in the correction of other congenital deformities, and not just in Microtia-anotia.
Also, the world could evolve into an era where, complex organs like the brain, can be grown artificially (you didn't hear this from me :D). But that's the nature of scientific evolution, and it keeps getting better by the day.
Remember this:
The evolution of science is only mind-limited; as long as we can conceive it in our minds, it can be actualized.
Thanks for reading
References for further reading: Ref1, Ref2, Ref3, Ref4, Ref5
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