African surgeon successfully performs first-ever transplant surgery to cure deafness

African surgeon successfully performs first-ever transplant surgery to cure deafness

- Trailblazing Professor Mashudu Tsifularo and his team have developed a surgical procedure using 3D-printed middle ear bone

- The surgical procedure using 3D may be the answer to conductive hearing loss

- The 3D-printed surgical transplant is the first-ever to be developed by the professor and his team at the University of Pretoria (UP) in South Africa

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A renowned Professor Mashudu Tsifularo and his team at the University of Pretoria (UP), Faculty of Health in South Africa have developed 3D-printed middle ear bone with a potential of curing conductive hearing loss.

Blackhistory.com reports that the 3D-printed surgical procedure may be the answer to conductive hearing loss, a middle ear problem caused by congenital birth defects, infection, trauma or metabolic diseases.

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In March 2019, pioneering Prof Tshifularo made history as the first surgeon in the world to successfully perform a transplant surgery that allowed a 35-year old male recipient, whose middle ear was completely damaged in a car accident, to hear again.

The procedure effectively replaces the hammer, anvil, and stirrup, the ossicles (smallest bones in the body) that make up the middle ear.

3D-printing technology was used to print these bones and then used in the surgery to reconstruct the ossicles.

The surgery simplifies the reconstruction of ossicles during middle ear procedures, such as ossiculoplasty and stapedectomy, in order to increase the chance of success with minimal intrusion trauma.

In addition, Prof Tshifularo’s procedure reduces the chance of facial nerve paralysis, which can occur if the facial nerve that passes through the middle ear space is damaged during traditional surgery.

Prof Tshifularo says ''3D technology is allowing us to do things we never thought we could [be done].''

Meanwhile, Ghana’s Black Stars were recently mobbed by an ecstatic crowd in Winneba and Mankessim as the team made stops in there on their way to Cape Coast for the AFCON 2021 qualifying match against South Africa.

Ghana against South Africa is on Thursday, November 14, 2019, at 7pm at the Cape Coast Sports Stadium.

The team first stopped in Winneba, fraternised with locals and gave out #BringBackTheLove T-shirts before repeating same in Mankessim.

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