A South African don has become the first physician to cure deafness using 3D printer implants.
Professor Mashudu Tshifularo of the Steve Biko University Hospital in Pretoria, with his team, successfully carried out the reconstructive surgery, using the Tshifularo printer implants which replaces the ossicles: the hammer (malleus), the anvil (incus) and the stapes(stapes).
The implants, more affordable compared to traditional titanium plants, were administered on a 40-year-old man born with a middle ear problem and has a history of unsuccessful procedure.
Mr Tshifularo, born on June 18, 1964, in the rural village of Mbahelar near Thohoyandou, in Venda, South Africa, is also a lay pastor and has published several books.
He studied at the University of Natal and started his career as a medical doctor at Hospital Tshilidzini in 1990.
