More interesting news and updates about medicine and science is about the a women who successfully cloned an ear to her forearm and attached to her head. Thanks to the new technology another person was able to have an ear again.
Story Source: http://gizmodo.com/
Yep, this happened. Doctors at Johns Hopkins have attached a new ear to a patient that was grown on her own forearm. It's a medical first, and a heartwarming-if-a-little-yucky story.
In 2008, Sherrie Walters was diagnosed with aggressive basal cell cancer, and had to have part of her ear, skull, and ear canal removed. But now she's the first patient to receive a new procedure that uses rib cartilage to build an entirely new ear, spearheaded by Dr. Patrick Byrne, a plastic and
reconstructive surgeon.
The new ear was then placed under the skin of her arm for months to grow.
And it seems to have been a success! The swelling still has to go down, but Byrne, who had been waiting for the right patient to try this procedure on, told CBS, "In my opinion, how it's just a matter of time as the swelling goes down and it heals, I believe she will have a normal looking ear." Which is incredible, really. Reconstructive surgery like this is one, among others, is one of the best and most human uses of all the scientific might we have at our disposal.
Images of the procedure and Walters' new ear are below, but before you start scrolling, be warned: this gets gross
nice blog
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