Degradable polymer bone adhesives

Area of Science:

• Orthopedic Surgery
• Biomaterials Science
• Polymer Chemistry

Background:

• Comminuted fractures and bone defects present significant orthopedic challenges.
• Current metal implants can lead to stress shielding and impaired bone healing.
• Biodegradable bone adhesives are emerging as a superior alternative for fracture treatment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To provide a comprehensive overview of strategies for fabricating biodegradable polymer bone adhesives.
• To highlight the critical performance requirements for ideal bone adhesives, emphasizing degradability.
• To discuss the challenges and future directions for clinical translation of bone adhesives.

Main Methods:

• Review of existing literature on biodegradable polymer bone adhesives.
• Analysis of fabrication strategies balancing degradability, adhesion strength, and biocompatibility.
• Discussion of *in vivo* stability and curing requirements.

Main Results:

• Degradability is a crucial feature for bone adhesives, allowing natural bone regeneration without secondary surgery.
• Achieving degradability while maintaining high adhesion strength, biocompatibility, and *in vivo* stability is challenging.
• Various strategies exist for fabricating biodegradable polymer bone adhesives with desired properties.

Conclusions:

• Biodegradable polymer bone adhesives hold significant potential to overcome limitations of current orthopedic fixation methods.
• Further research is needed to address challenges in clinical translation and optimize adhesive performance.
• Future development should focus on tailored degradation rates and enhanced *in vivo* functionality.