Russia starts clinical use of cell technologies for eardrum repair

The Clinical Center of I. M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University (Sechenov University) has begun performing eardrum repair procedures using tissue equivalents created from patients’ own cells. According to the university’s portal, this marks the first reported clinical use of a cell-based medicinal product (CBMP) for eardrum regeneration worldwide.

"Sechenov University is the only medical university in Russia that has gone the whole way from fundamental research to certified production of a cell product and its use in its own clinic," emphasised the rector of Sechenov University, Petr Glybochko. 

The research is being conducted under state programmes supporting science and education. According to the source, the technology involves forming cell spheroids from a patient’s adipose tissue, which are then implanted together with a resorbable membrane. Subsequently, the membrane dissolves and is replaced by the patient’s own tissue, comparable in structure and function to a natural eardrum.

Clinical data indicate that the procedure takes around 40 minutes, less than conventional tympanoplasty. The first patients have had a favourable postoperative course. 

Experts note that tympanic membrane perforation affects four to five people per 1,000 and commonly occurs after infections, trauma or sudden pressure changes. Traditional surgical methods are complex and do not always deliver stable results, with graft failure reported in 10–20 per cent of cases.

Researchers said the development covers the entire cycle – from cell isolation to clinical use – enabling the transition from experimental research to practical medicine. The underlying platform technology, they added, could later be applied to the regeneration of other organs and tissues, expanding the clinical potential of cell-based therapies.

Photo: gorodenkoff/ iStock