On 13 March 2019, Professor Tshifularo performed two transplants using 3-D printed ossicles (the hammer, anvil, and stirrup), a procedure which is significantly less risky than the use of prostheses and their associated surgical procedures. The procedure is hailed as the answer to conductive hearing loss, a middle ear problem caused by congenital birth defects, infection, trauma or metabolic disease. The surgery further aims to simplify the reconstruction of ossicles during middle ear procedures, and reduce the risks associated with traditional surgery, including the potential for facial nerve paralysis.

Since joining the Department, Professor Tshifularo has been the driving force behind many firsts at the University of Pretoria. In November 2008 he performed a bloodless operation known as an endoscope-assisted tonsillectomy using a technique that he had developed himself. At around the same time Professor Tshifularo led the Steve Biko Robert Kerr Cochlear Implants Project in the Department, which does cochlear implants on patients from poor communities.

Professor Tshifularo was the first black ENT specialist and among the youngest in the country when he was appointed to the Medunsa Department of Otorhinolaryngology in 2001. To date, he has been instrumental in the training of more black South African ENT specialists than any other institution in the country.

Date Friday, 24 May 2019
Time 11:00 to 12:00
Venue Old College House Seminar Lounge, 1-09, University of Pretoria
Parking Parking will be reserved upon request
RSVP Cecelia Samson, [email protected], 012 420 2653