MASHUDU TSHIFULARO: FIRST SURGEON IN THE WORLD TO CURE DEAFNESS
In 2019, Professor Mashudu Tshifularo, a South African doctor and his team at the University of Pretoria, Faculty of Health in South Became the first in the world to cure a patient’s deafness using 3D-printing technology.
The first patient to go through this surgery process was a 35-year-old man who suffered hearing loss as a result of a car accident that damaged his ear, according to a press release by the South African Government.
The procedure replaces the hammer, anvil and stirrup, the ossicles that make up the middle ear. 3D-printing technology was used to print these bones and then used to reconstruct the ossicles during surgery.
The surgery was completed in about two hours owing to the injury’s severity. The best part about the surgery is that it will be available to patients of all ages.
Tshifularo stated that 3D technology is allowing us to do things we never imagine we could. He also said he would like to make the technology affordable and is looking for sponsors to bring the technology to the medical community.
