Thanks to a 3D implant, a Toulouse patient finds a nose

It is a reconstructive operation that had never been performed on an area as sensitive and vascularized as the nose.

The ENT and cervico-facial surgery teams from the Toulouse University Hospital (Haute-Garonne) and the Claudius Regaud Institute carried out a surgical operation at the Toulouse-Oncopole University Cancer Institute completely reconstructing the nose of a patient with from a synthetic graft previously implanted in his forearm to prevascularize it.

An unprecedented tailor-made intervention based on cutting-edge technology.

In 2013, this patient, now 50, was treated for nasal cavity cancer by radiotherapy and chemotherapy, causing her to lose a large part of her nose and the front part of her palate.

For more than four years, she lived without a nose, facing failures in nasal reconstruction by skin flap grafting and difficulty coping with wearing a facial prosthesis.

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Teams from the Toulouse University Hospital then offered him a bespoke nasal reconstruction using biomaterial, in collaboration with the company Cerhum, a Belgian manufacturer of medical devices specializing in bone reconstruction.

"The biomaterial used to reconstruct the patient's nose was custom-printed on the basis of 3D views taken before the implementation of the anti-cancer treatment and its prosthesis", explains Agnès Dupret-Bories, ENT surgeon at the IUCT -Oncopole which carried out this operation with Doctor Benjamin Vairel.

Ten days of hospitalization and three weeks of antibiotics

"As the skin of her nasal region was damaged by radiotherapy, the implant was first implanted in July on the patient's forearm for two months to be colonized by the patient's body", adds Agnès Dupret-Bories.

Once colonization of the medical device was complete, the graft and surrounding skin were implanted on the patient's face and revascularized using microsurgery to connect the blood vessels.

After ten days of hospitalization and three weeks of antibiotics, the patient is doing very well.

“Today, she can breathe with this nose, even if touch-ups are to be expected during a new operation and she is happy with the aesthetic result”, assures Agnès Dupret-Bories.