It is an unprecedented intervention. The nose of a patient at Toulouse University Hospital has been completely reconstructed from a synthetic graft previously implanted in her forearm, the Toulouse University Cancer Institute announced in a press release on Monday, November 7.
In 2013, she was treated for nasal cavity cancer. A treatment that had caused him to lose “a large part of the nose as well as the anterior part of the palate,” the hospital said. After four years without a nose, the otorhinolaryngology and cervical-facial surgery teams at Toulouse University Hospital offered him “a custom-made nasal reconstruction with biomaterial” using a 3D printer.
The CHU specified that “never before had this type of reconstruction been carried out in such a fragile and poorly vascularized area.”
“The patient is doing very well”
For the transplant to be a success, the biomaterial had to be “nursed” in the patient’s forearm for two months to better irrigate the new nose thanks to the blood vessels.
Then, the transplant in the nasal region could be done in September 2022 using microsurgery to connect the blood vessels. “After ten days of hospitalization and three weeks of antibiotics, the patient is doing very well,” concluded the Toulouse hospital, which will continue to monitor his evolution.
Source: BFM TV
