When Surgery is Art (February 6, 2015)

Doctors at Johns Hopkins built a new ear for cancer patient Sherrie Walter, using  the existing cartilage from her ribs and implanted it in her arm. It began in 2008 when Walter, now 42, was first diagnosed with aggressive basal cell carcinoma, a form of skin cancer. In 2010, it returned and spread to various areas of her head. Doctors had to remove her left ear and parts of her skull tissue. Previous patients who’ve undergone similar procedures had used prosthetic ears, but Walter didn’t think that was the best option.“The concept of having to tape something to my skin every day didn’t feel like that was who I was,” said Walter. Also, the fact that she was missing parts of her skull made such a procedure less feasible. Her surgeon, Dr. Patrick Byrne,  proposed another option. Byrne and a team of doctors harvested cartilage from Walter’s ribs, shaped it into an ear and placed it under the skin of her forearm. Nourished by surrounding blood vessels, the new ear developed skin of its own and, after four months, the surgeons removed it. Next, they attached it to blood vessels in Walter’s head, sculpting tissue to affix it permanently. Since this procedure, Walter’s surgeons have focused on the more cosmetic aspects of the process, shaping and sculpting the new left ear to match the right one as much as possible. Though she still needs to undergo a few more surgeries to complete the process, Walter’s hearing has been restored with the help of a special hearing aid.

In conclusion it is amazing how far medical advancements have gone to improve mankind and it only keeps advancing more and more every day. Although there will be risks involved in trying new procedures thanks to the scientific research available now a days anything can be possible with time. 

Aside from this I also did some research on Stem Cells.

Stem cells are the body's raw materials, cells from which all other cells with specialized functions are generated. Under the right conditions in the body or a laboratory, stem cells divide to form more cells called daughter cells.
These daughter cells either become new stem cells (self-renewal) or become specialized cells (differentiation) with a more specific function, such as blood cells, brain cells, heart muscle or bone. No other cell in the body has the natural ability to generate new cell types.