Woman Successfully Grows Ear From Arm

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Woman Successfully Grows Ear From Arm

Posted by Soulskill on Saturday September 29, 2012 @09:32PM from the i-heard-that dept.

An anonymous reader writes "In 2008, Sherrie Walters, now 42 years old, discovered that she had rapidly spreading basal cell cancer in her ear. The disease is a type of skin cancer. The doctors pursued an aggressive treatment to combat the destructive disease, removing her ear, part of her skull, and her left ear canal. Though Walters was left without an ear, she was still able to hear with the help of a special hearing aid. A few months ago, doctors from the renowned Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore decided to try a new procedure on Walters. Using cartilage from her rib, the doctors stitched a new ear to match her right one. Then their creation was implanted under the skin of her forearm, where the ear grew for months. ...Doctors attached the ear and blood vessels surgically. Another surgery, conducted this week, gave the ear shape and detail. Dr. Patrick Byrne, a revered plastic and reconstructive surgeon, says that after the swelling goes down and the ear heals, Walters will have an ear that both looks and functions normally."

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I wonder... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-29 21:41 · Score: 2, Interesting

Was that JUST the canal regrown or the Cochlear as well??
1. Re:I wonder... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-29 22:41 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  It was just the external part of the ear, or pinna. Her inner ear, including the cochlea, must have been functional to some extent because she was able to use a hearing aid (presumably a bone anchored hearing aid). The cochlea is not a 'simple' cartaliginous structure like the pinna. It is a complex sensory organ housed within a fluid-filled bony labyrinth, so not something that could be regrown using the technique described. The closest thing to regrowing a cochlea possible at present is probably stem cell research involving inner ear hair cell and auditory nerve regeneration, although obviously electronic cochlear implants and auditory brain stem implants are available.
2. Re:I wonder... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-29 23:03 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  Congrats, Sherrie.
  But if I was you, I'd stay away from Mike Tyson.
3. Re:I wonder... by dotancohen · 2012-09-30 00:27 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  Was that JUST the canal regrown or the Cochlear as well??
  Just the outside cartridge. You can see photos of the whole procedure here, including the arm surgury (warning: gruesome):
  http://cbsbaltimore.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/sw-microvascular-ear-recon-rfff.pptx
  It is a Powerpoint slideshow, but opens fine in LibreOffice 3.4.
  
  --
  It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.
Gives a whole new meaning... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-29 22:09 · Score: 4, Funny

to "don't put anything other than your elbow in your ear".
1. Re:Gives a whole new meaning... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-30 00:11 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  and "talk to the hand", is making more sense.
Great writing by jamesl · 2012-09-29 22:21 · Score: 3, Funny

renowned Johns Hopkins
a revered reconstructive and plastic surgeon.
I hope it's just an oversight by the poster rather than the revered doctor that has left the "ear" implanted under the skin of her forearm.
Re:Holy @#$%... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-29 22:38 · Score: 4, Funny

Nothing because of Obamacare so basically it came out of Mitt Romney's pocket.
Amazing! by olau · 2012-09-29 22:51 · Score: 5, Informative

Check the photo of the ear in the arm. Awesome times we live in!
1. Re:Amazing! by K.+S.+Kyosuke · 2012-09-29 23:14 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Apparently, she was all ears after the doctors told her that they could fix her.
  
  --
  Ezekiel 23:20
Re:Holy @#$%... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-29 22:55 · Score: 5, Funny

Can't you read? They used her rib and arm, so it certainly didn't cost an arm and a leg ...
Re:Holy @#$%... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-29 22:57 · Score: 4, Funny

Somehow, I'm completely ok with this.
Couldn't help but thinking... by Type44Q · 2012-09-29 23:59 · Score: 2

Woman Successfully Grows Ear From Arm
This could bring new meaning to that silly gesture/expression "talk to the hand."
Vagina by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-30 00:27 · Score: 5, Funny

Awesome times would be when they can grow a vagina on my hand.
Re:Vat by MisterSquid · 2012-09-30 01:10 · Score: 2

What I find really uncanny is that from one perspective this is an example of life imitating art.
The somewhat infamous and critically celebrated Stelarc has conducted a few experiments on his body to attach new sensory organs to his body and connect his body to larger networks. Ping body is a pretty famous one, but the one I have in mind is his "Ear on Arm". Partially quoting:

The EAR ON ARM has required 2 surgeries thus far. An extra ear is presently being constructed on my forearm: A left ear on a left arm. An ear that not only hears but also transmits. A facial feature has been replicated, relocated and will now be rewired for alternate capabilities. Excess skin was created with an implanted skin expander in the forearm. By injecting saline solution into a subcutaneous port, the kidney shaped silicon implant stretched the skin, forming a pocket of excess skin that could be used in surgically constructing the ear. The body is a living system which isn't easy to surgically sculpt. And recovery time is needed after the surgical procedures. There were several serious problems that occurred: a necrosis during the skin expansion process necessitated excising it and rotating the position of the ear around the arm. Ironically, this proved to be the original site that the 3D model and animation was visualized. Anyway, the inner forearm was anatomically a good site for the ear construction. The skin is thin and smooth there, and ergonomically locating it on the inner forearm minimizes the inadvertent knocking or scraping of the ear.

--
blog
She was very open about it by RoboElvi · 2012-09-30 02:34 · Score: 4, Informative

I worked with her up to a year ago when she was transferred. She wore a compression sleeve over the ear on her left arm, but was cool with showing anyone who asked about it.
It would have been more impressive by AliasMarlowe · 2012-09-30 03:06 · Score: 2

It would have been much more impressive (and much more headline-worthy), if she and her medical team had grown a replacement arm from an ear, or other pieces of her body. After all, not even $deity can do that.

--
Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. - Voltaire
1. Re:It would have been more impressive by Zocalo · 2012-09-30 06:29 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  No, the ultimate impressive achievement would be to grow the new ear in the middle of the forehead. That way it would be the final front-ear.
  
  --
  UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
I know you're all thinking it... by drkim · 2012-09-30 04:19 · Score: 2

I know you're all thinking it, so I don't even need to post the actual thought...
...but, most of us are looking forward to the day we can say, "Baby, you make me wish I had three hands!!!"
How is that any different than now? by bigtrike · 2012-10-01 01:44 · Score: 2

We've been doing it for at least a century already. Any time you go to a hospital, if you pay your bill, you're effectively paying for the people who can't or won't pay for insurance.