City doctor treats child with microtia

Mumbai: City-based Dr Ashesh Bhumkar operated upon a child from Moscow who was born with a congenital ear defect known as microtia, where the external ear is un-derdeveloped. The 10-year-old child from Moscow was operated upon in a private hospital in the city. The child had been suffering since birth due to which he was unable to hear and had just a flap instead of an ear.

Dr Bhumkar said, “The inner ear birth defect, called aural atresia, is common in children with microtia. Reconstructive surgery can give back children with both microtia and aural atresia about 60 per cent of their hearing.”

“In this particular cas-e, the child had no openings to the middle and inner ear. His middle and inner ear weren’t developed normally, giving him the ability to hear so we had to make ears from his rib cartilage,” said Dr Bhumkar.

The procedure to grow external ears required five surgeries, starting with harvesting cartilage to create the ears.