MHH inserts the world's first innovative implant into the ear canal

For the first time, the ENT clinic The team at Hannover Medical School (MHH) provided an adult patient with a customized implant for the external auditory canal. The implant is manufactured using 3D printing and is also designed to continuously and locally release an active ingredient to accelerate healing. "We have thus opened the door to innovative and pioneering patient care," explains ENT Clinic Director Professor Dr. Thomas Lenarz. The MHH is the first clinic in the world to produce an implant adapted to the patient's individual anatomy using the Desktop Health 3D bioplotter and to functionalize it by adding active ingredients. 

The patient now fitted with the implant suffered from a recurring narrowing of the ear canal, which had been surgically treated several times without the desired success. The specially manufactured implant now enables both a stent function and drug delivery. "The first follow-up has already been very promising," reports PD Dr. Verena Scheper, whose team at the ENT Clinic's Pharmacology of the Inner Ear department designed the implant and manufactured it using the 3D bioplotter Manufacturer Series.