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Abstract
Tympanic membrane perforation is a common condition in clinical otolaryngology. Although some eardrum patients can self-heal, a long period of non-healing perforation leads to persistent otitis media, conductive deafness, and poor quality of life. Tympanic membrane repair with autologous materials requires a second incision, and the sampling site may get infected. It is challenging to repair tympanic membranes while maintaining high functionality, safety, affordability, and aesthetics. 3D bioprinting can be used to fabricate tissue patches with materials, factors, and cells in a design manner. This paper reviews 3D printing technology that is being used widely in recent years to construct eardrum stents and the utilized applied materials for tympanic membrane repair. The paper begins with an introduction of the physiological structure of the tympanic membrane, briefly reviews the current clinical method thereafter, highlights the recent 3D printing-related strategies in tympanic membrane repair, describes the materials and cells that might play an important role in 3D printing, and finally provides a perspective of this field.
Disclosure statement
The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.
Authors’ contributions
Shuo Li and Jianwei Chen searched literature and extract data. Haolei Hu analyzed the data, and was a major contributor in writing the manuscript. Yi Li and Tao Xu were revised the article and final approval of the version. The author(s) read and approved the final manuscript.
Funding
The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.
Availability of data and materials
All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article.