Corpus: Auricular cartilage
1. Definition
The auricular cartilage forms the framework of the auricle. It consists of elastic cartilage, which is responsible for the good deformability and flexibility of the auricle.
2. Anatomy
The auricular cartilage merges medially into the external auditory canal cartilage without a recognizable boundary. In infants and toddlers, the ear cartilage is still very soft. It gets increasingly firm after the age of 6 and then the typical external shape of the auricle can be recognized.
3. Clinic
Ear cartilage is used as an autogenous transplant for the reconstruction of laryngotracheal structures and to obtain cartilage cells in the context of tissue engineering.