Desktop Health announced that the ENT clinic at Hannover Medical School (MHH) in Germany has used its 3D bioplotter manufacturer series to produce a customized drug-delivery ear implant for implantation in an adult patient.
MHH is the first institution in the world to use the Desktop Health 3D bioplotter to manufacture an ear implant customized to the patient’s individual anatomy.
“We have thus opened the door to a new type of pioneering patient care,” said ENT clinic director Prof. Prof. h.c. Thomas Lenarz, MD.
“Our entire team celebrates this important accomplishment by the Hannover Medical School ENT clinic, which has been years in the making,” said Ric Fulop, Founder and CEO of Desktop Metal. MHH purchased its 3D-Bioplotter in 2020 to develop this and other applications.
The ear implant was developed for a patient who suffered from recurrent narrowing of the ear canal and had undergone several unsuccessful operations. The implant not only serves as a stent, but also releases active substances to accelerate the healing process.
“The benefits of 3D bioprinting are just beginning to move into actual patients, and we celebrate this important shift in medicine that MHH and other medical innovators are driving forward,” Fulop said. “In recent months, we’ve seen the first products developed over many years on the 3D-Bioplotter moving into commercial and patient applications. We celebrate these important milestones, and what they mean for personalized patient care.”
“The first follow-up has already been very promising,” said PD Dr. Verena Scheper, whose team from the Otolaryngology Clinic’s Inner Ear Pharmacology Department designed the implant and manufactured it using the 3D-Bioplotter Manufacturing Series.
The ENT Clinic at the MHH is internationally renowned for the world’s largest cochlear implant program for the care of hearing-impaired patients. To date, the clinic has provided over 11,111 people with a cochlear implant. The clinic also focuses on the provision and further development of hearing aids, the early detection of childhood hearing loss and the diagnosis and treatment of sensorineural hearing loss, including tinnitus.
Desktop Health’s 3D bioplotter is a highly accurate and reliable bioprinter that is the most cited and researched bioprinter in scientific and medical journals worldwide. With over 2,490 citations and more than 640 research papers produced directly with the system, it is a leader in its field.
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