Black Surgeon Successfully Performs First Ever Transplant Surgery to Cure Deafness

Professor Mashudu Tshifularo and his experienced team at the University of Pretoria (UP) Faculty of Health in South Africa have developed a ground-breaking surgical method that makes use of 3D-printed middle ear bones.

This new approach may help with conductive hearing loss, a condition that affects the middle ear and is brought on by things like congenital birth defects, infections, trauma, or metabolic disorders. Importantly, this treatment can be used on people of all ages, even newborns.

Professor Tshifularo made medical history in March 2019 when he successfully operated on a 35-year-old male patient in the first successful transplant surgery ever. This person was completely deaf since an automobile accident completely destroyed his middle ear.

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The procedure entailed replacing the ossicles, the tiny bones in the human body that make up the middle ear—the hammer, anvil, and stirrup—carefully. These bones were accurately duplicated using cutting-edge 3D printing technology and then used in the surgical reconstructive process.

With this ground-breaking method, middle ear surgeries like ossiculoplasty and stapedectomy can more quickly repair the ossicles. This lessens trauma and intrusion while simultaneously increasing the likelihood of success. Furthermore, by protecting the facial nerve that passes through the middle ear space, Professor Tshifularo’s approach lowers the danger of facial nerve paralysis, a potential complication in conventional procedures.