Warning: Any of you with stomachs a little sensitive to body parts and surgical procedures might not want to look at these pics. Similarly, if you are eating your breakfast cereal whilst browsing through this article, I suggest you come back once your grub has fully settled.
In what is truly a groundbreaking procedure and the first of its kind in the world, doctors at the John Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore have managed to grow an ear in a patients forearm and transplant it to her head.
Sherrie Walters, the patient who underwent the revolutionary procedure, was diagnosed with aggressive basal cell cancer in 2008. Part of her treatment saw that part of her ear, ear canal and skull were removed in an attempt to get rid of the cancer.
The treatment, led by plastic and reconstructive surgeon Dr. Patrick Byrne, saw rib cartilage used to create a new ear, which was then inserted underneath the skin of her forearm and left to grow for a few months. Byrne then removed the new ear and transplanted it to the woman’s head to replace the one she lost to the cancer.
Byrne, who had been working on this procedure for a long time, just waiting for the right patient to come along told CBS: “In my opinion, it’s just a matter of time as the swelling goes down and it heals, I believe she will have a normal looking ear.”
It really is an amazing story and shows just how far medical and scientific advancements have come in recent times.
(Via CBS)
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