Autologous transplantation of tissue-engineered auricular cartilage in a rabbit model

Introduction The gold standard of auricular reconstruction entails the assembly of the auricular construct from autologous rib cartilage, which is highly skill-dependent, requires multiple interventions and may lead to donor-site morbidity. Tissue engineering (TE) provides an alternative approach to producing a pinna that can be tailored individually to the patient and only requires a small biopsy, thus reducing the risks of the surgery. Autologous animal models present the means for the preclinical evaluation of TE constructs.