KSU team makes world’s first artificial ear implant

[Mosamania]

KSU team makes world’s first artificial ear implant


Two artificial ears were surgically implanted on a girl by a team of doctors at King Saud University (KSU) in Riyadh.

This kind of surgery is the first of its kind worldwide, and another feather in the cap of KSU, ranked among the leading universities in the world, reported Al-Eqtisadiah business daily yesterday.

‘The treatment promises to help those who suffer from ear problems,” said Dr. Abdul Rahman Hagr, head of the Saudi Society for Auditory Impairments.

A tiny titanium base was implanted on both sides of the girl’s head to replace the bases of the deformed ears. A few weeks later, the metal bases were fully glued to the bones. After that two artificial ears were fixed onto the bases.

Earlier, the girl had undergone a bone anchored hearing aid surgery to improve her hearing at King Abdul Aziz University Hospital, a subsidiary of the university.

After this surgery the girl’s hearing improved considerably and her teachers reported that she had become one of the best students in her class. However, she still did not have outer ears. The latest procedure of giving her artificial ears further improved her hearing as well as ending her embarrassment of not having ears.

KSU has been ranked first in the Arab World and 200 in the world by the QS World University Ranking in 2011. The same index put the university’s life sciences and medicine departments at 121st place internationally.

KSU team makes world

 

[Mosamania]

KSA might become the world authority on deafness the same how it is now the world authority on conjoined twins.

 

[King Solomon]

Great to see them progress in Science and tech by themselves.

 

[Sina]

How is this different from the famous Cochlear implant?

Cochlear implant - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cochlear - Implants for Children and Adults - Bionic Ear Hearing Implant | Cochlear

A cochlear implant (CI) is a surgically implanted electronic device that provides a sense of sound to a person who is profoundly deaf or severely hard of hearing. Cochlear implants are often referred to as a bionic ear.
As of December 2010, approximately 219,000 people worldwide have received cochlear implants; in the U.S., roughly 42,600 adults and 28,400 children are recipients.[1] The vast majority are in developed countries due to the high cost of the device, surgery and post-implantation therapy. A small but growing segment of recipients have bilateral implants (one implant in each cochlea)

 

[Mosamania]

How is this different from the famous Cochlear implant?

Cochlear implant - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cochlear - Implants for Children and Adults - Bionic Ear Hearing Implant | Cochlear

It must some other form. Wouldn't be said the firs to fits kind in the world for no reason you know.

 

[Hack-Hook]

the article says very little about the exact procedure that made it unique (well you must not expect anything more in mass media) if they publish an article about it in medical journal then it would be more interesting .
but my guess is that the situation of the girl is unique not the surgery itself .it seems the girl didn't have external auditory system and her problem was not due to loss of hearing ,It was a case of not developing the hearing at all .

by the way I wonder when the surgery took place it will take time for somebody who didn't develop hearing skill to see if this sort of surgery was successful or no.