A young girl in Naples has recovered her hearing thanks to complex surgery involving an implant of a middle ear temporal bone created using 3D-printing technology. The innovative operation - the first in Italy to use 3D printing to custom-design a prosthesis of the missing bone - was carried out by surgeons at the Santobono-Pausillipon pediatric hospital in Naples.

The girl, whose age was not released to the media, was suffering from aural atresia, a congenital condition relating to the malformation of the ear canal which can lead to severe hearing loss. The surgeons also made extensive use of image processing software in the pre-operative planning stages to establish their course of action with the utmost precision.