Pioneering middle ear transplant surgery uses 3D printed bones

In a world first, a team from the University of Pretoria (South Africa) has replaced a patient's underdeveloped middle ear bones with 3D printed replacements. This new surgery technique could provide a cure for conductive hearing loss, a middle ear problem caused by congenital birth defects, infection, trauma or metabolic diseases. Hearing loss is an issue that affects people globally. The South African Hearing Institute (Edenvale, South Africa) have discovered that hearing ability declines in humans from age 30 onwards and by the age of 80, more than half of humans will suffer significant hearing loss. Most of this hearing...