Doctors Grow New Ear on Cancer Victim's Arm

[empirex]

Doctors Grow New Ear on Cancer Victim's Arm

When Sherrie Walter lost her ear to cancer two years ago, she told herself she'd never be one of those survivors attaching a prosthetic ear every day.

"The concept of having to tape something to my skin every day didn't feel like that was who I was," the 42-year-old mother of two told ABC News. "I could just see my kids running around with it, yelling, 'I have mommy's ear!'"

But doctors at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore offered Walter a chance at a new ear -- a permanent one built from her own tissue.

The groundbreaking procedure, described as one of the most complicated ear constructions in the U.S., involves removing cartilage from the rib cage to form a new ear, which is then placed under the skin of the forearm to grow.

"It was under my arm for about four months," Walter said. "I just thought I was something from science fiction."

This week, Walter received some of the finishing touches on her ear, with doctors sculpting and carving tissue to reposition it.

"Family and friends say it looks great," Walter said. "I'm not looking until the big reveal."

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[azbob]

Well they recently grew an ear on a mouse's back, this is the next logical step.

 

[stoymigo]

That's awesome, it's good when medical breakthroughs happen.

 

[chrisc]

Wonderful stuff. Makes me feel positive for human kind (most of them anyway)

 

[RiaX]

first skin now parts ... once we learn to create organs things will be very good

 

[Sensorei]

The title is misleading. They didn't grow an ear on her arm. They grew cartilage and plastic surgeons sculpted it into something resembling an ear.

 

[RiaX]

still an amazing feat

 

[azbob]

still an amazing feat

No, it's an amazing arm.

 

[grok]

Pfft .. that arm's not so special after all when they've used a whole mouse before.

 

[Sensorei]

Pfft .. that arm's not so special after all when they've used a whole mouse before.

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That also wasn't a real ear. It was also cartilage that was moulded and then implanted under the mouse's skin. So the option of growing ears and noses etc is not really viable yet.

 

[androidfan]

This just reminds me of the south park episode ...

 

[patrick]

Pretty cool for her, but I'm waiting for the stem cell version.

 

[Geriatrix]

Didn't she go through enough!? Then they go and disfigure her even more by placing ears on her arms! Outrage!