A man who lost his nose to cancer plans on getting it back by having doctors grow another one on his arm.
British scientists are taking a shot at the groundbreaking procedure by using the man’s bone marrow cells to grow the new nose, which they will then implant under skin in the man’s arm, in a highly controlled laboratory.
Doctors will initially grow two noses “just in case someone drops one,” using molds taken of the patient’s original nose before it was surgically removed, according to Dr. Alex Seifalian of University College London.
For two weeks, two prototypes will be maintained in a bioreactor with the heat set to approximate human body temperature, which helps the cells to multiply.
Simultaneously, Seifalian explained, doctors will insert a small balloon under the skin of one of the patient’s arms and inflate it little by little over weeks to help the skin stretch.
Once the facial features take shape, surgeons will implant one of them in the skin on one of the 53-year-old man’s arms. The unusual process will allow the new nose to grow its own skin and develop a normal blood supply.
“We can make the nose, but we can’t make the skin,” Seifalian told the Belfast Telegraph.
The made-from-scratch sniffer will remain in the man’s arm for four to six weeks as it continues to develop. After this period, doctors will then sew the nose to the patients face, open the nostrils and implant cells that allow for the secretion of mucus.
The exciting regenerative procedure is unprecedented, according to Seifalian. Doctors at University College London did not respond to a request for comment.
