Can Surgeons Soon Print Bone in the Operating Room Using A Glue Gun?

A Glue Gun That Prints Bone: The Future of Fracture Repair

Bone fractures have always been a central challenge in medicine. While most breaks heal with immobilization, surgery becomes necessary when bones are shattered, gaps exist, or healing is delayed. Traditionally, surgeons rely on metal plates, screws, bone grafts, or cement to stabilize and fill defects. But each method comes with limitations—rigidity, infection risks, donor-site pain, or imperfect fit.

Now imagine walking into the operating room and, instead of pulling out pre-shaped grafts or metal implants, the surgeon picks up what looks like a handheld glue gun. With the pull of a trigger, it begins printing a special “bone ink” directly into the fracture gap—filling it seamlessly, matching its shape perfectly, and releasing antibiotics to keep infection at bay. This isn’t science fiction anymore. Researchers have developed exactly such a tool, and early experiments in animals suggest it could revolutionize orthopedic surgery.

Why Traditional Bone Repair Has Limitations
To appreciate why this innovation matters, it’s important to understand the existing options:

• Autografts: Taking bone from the patient’s own pelvis or rib. Effective but painful, limited in supply, and adds surgical trauma.
  
  
• Allografts: Donated bone from another human. Widely available but slower to integrate, and there’s always a slight risk of rejection.
  
  
• Bone cements: Often used in joint replacements or fracture fixation. They fill space but do not regenerate natural bone.
  
  
• Metal hardware: Plates, rods, and screws stabilize fractures but don’t replace bone. They can cause irritation or require later removal.
  
  
• 3D-printed implants: Exciting but typically require preoperative imaging, modeling, and sterilization. That means they can’t always adapt in real time during surgery.
  

The biggest problem is irregularity. Real fractures rarely look neat. Shattered bone fragments create unpredictable gaps. Trying to cut and fit a pre-shaped implant can feel like forcing puzzle pieces that don’t match. This is where on-the-spot bone printing could change the game.

How the Bone Printing “Glue Gun” Works
The device resembles a typical hot glue gun but has been redesigned for surgical safety and precision. Instead of glue sticks, it uses a filament made of polycaprolactone (PCL) mixed with hydroxyapatite, the mineral that naturally makes up human bone. Some versions also incorporate antibiotics to prevent infection.

• Temperature control: Unlike glue guns that run at 200 °C or more, this device extrudes material at around 60 °C. That’s hot enough to soften the polymer but low enough to avoid cooking nearby tissue. Within seconds, the material cools to body temperature.
  
  
• Real-time shaping: The surgeon can “draw” the scaffold directly onto the fracture site. If the gap is irregular, the scaffold adapts on the spot.
  
  
• Strength and biocompatibility: The mix of polymer and mineral mimics natural bone’s balance of flexibility and strength. It holds fragments in place while encouraging cells to grow into it.
  
  
• Antibiotic delivery: By embedding antibiotics, the scaffold doubles as a drug-delivery system, releasing protective doses exactly where they are needed.
  

In essence, the surgeon doesn’t need to guess measurements or wait for lab-printed implants. The bone filler is created in the operating room, fitted precisely to the injury.

Animal Experiments and Early Results
The first major tests were done in rabbits with femur fractures. When the glue gun scaffold was applied, the results were striking:

• Faster bone regrowth: Compared to bone cement, the printed scaffolds encouraged more robust bone formation.
  
  
• Better structural strength: Measurements of thickness and density showed stronger healing tissue.
  
  
• Biodegradation: After 12 weeks, around 10% of the material had broken down naturally while being replaced by real bone.
  
  
• No major side effects: The rabbits showed no tissue damage, inflammation, or infection.
  

In addition, lab tests revealed that the antibiotic-loaded scaffolds effectively blocked bacteria such as E. coli and Staphylococcus aureus. This could dramatically reduce the risk of post-operative infections, which remain a serious complication in orthopedic surgery.

What Makes This Different from Traditional 3D Printing
Standard 3D-printed bone scaffolds usually require a long process: CT scans, digital modeling, off-site printing, sterilization, shipping, and finally surgical implantation. This can take days or weeks. Worse, if the fracture changes shape during surgery—or if unexpected defects are discovered—the pre-made scaffold may not fit.

The glue gun bypasses all of that. It’s point-of-care printing: the implant is made on the operating table, in real time, by the surgeon’s own hands. The difference is like comparing a prefabricated key to a locksmith carving one right in front of you for the lock you actually have.

Clinical Scenarios Where It Could Shine

1. Comminuted fractures – In high-impact accidents, bones can shatter into multiple fragments. The irregular gaps are nearly impossible to fill perfectly with pre-shaped grafts. Printing a custom scaffold on the spot could solve that.
   
   
2. Bone defects after tumor removal – When a tumor is cut out, surgeons are left with unpredictable holes in bone. A glue gun scaffold could fill those voids precisely.
   
   
3. Nonunion fractures – For bones that fail to heal, surgeons could add printed scaffolds to bridge the gap and stimulate regeneration.
   
   
4. Facial and cranial reconstruction – The skull and jaw have complex curves. Printing bone to fit them in real time could improve both function and appearance.
   
   
5. Spinal surgery – Potentially useful for reinforcing vertebrae after tumor resection or collapse.
   

The possibilities extend beyond orthopedics. Dentistry, maxillofacial surgery, and even neurosurgery might benefit from this technology.

Advantages Over Conventional Methods

• Perfect fit every time – No trimming, sanding, or guessing required.
  
  
• Shorter operating times – Eliminates the waiting associated with prefabricated implants.
  
  
• Less invasive overall – Avoids harvesting the patient’s own bone.
  
  
• Reduced infection risk – Thanks to built-in antibiotics.
  
  
• Biodegradable – The scaffold disappears as natural bone replaces it.
  

For patients, that could mean faster recovery, fewer complications, and less pain. For surgeons, it offers flexibility and confidence that the repair matches the patient’s anatomy.

Challenges and Concerns
As exciting as it sounds, several hurdles remain before this glue gun enters hospitals.

1. Safety of heat – Even at 60 °C, there is a risk of damaging nearby cells if cooling isn’t perfectly controlled. Large-scale testing is needed to confirm long-term safety.
   
   
2. Mechanical strength – Rabbit bones weigh a fraction of human bones. Will the scaffold hold up under the stresses of walking, running, or lifting in people?
   
   
3. Sterilization – The device and its cartridges must be sterile without degrading the antibiotics inside.
   
   
4. Regulation – Approval agencies will demand rigorous proof of safety, consistency, and effectiveness in large animals before human trials.
   
   
5. Cost and training – Hospitals will need to decide whether the benefits justify new equipment, training, and supply chains.
   

Until these challenges are addressed, the device will remain in the experimental stage.

Looking Ahead: A New Era of Surgical Tools
The dream of regenerative surgery is to restore tissue with living equivalents rather than replace it with metal or plastic. This glue gun approach moves in that direction by providing a scaffold that doesn’t just hold things together but actively encourages natural bone regrowth.

Future versions could evolve even further:

• Stem cell integration – Cartridges pre-loaded with the patient’s own stem cells could allow direct seeding of bone-forming cells into the fracture.
  
  
• Growth factor release – Beyond antibiotics, the scaffold could release proteins that accelerate healing.
  
  
• Smart materials – Polymers that adjust stiffness or dissolve at controlled rates based on body signals.
  
  
• Robotic guidance – Instead of manual use, robotic arms could print scaffolds with sub-millimeter accuracy.
  

One can imagine a future operating room where printers don’t just fabricate bone, but cartilage, ligaments, and maybe even full organ scaffolds.

Final Thoughts
Fracture surgery has advanced over the decades, but the principles remain centuries old: align the bone, stabilize it, and hope it heals. This handheld 3D-printing glue gun could be the first step toward a new paradigm where surgeons sculpt living tissues in real time. While still in animal testing, its potential is extraordinary. If clinical trials confirm safety and effectiveness, tomorrow’s orthopedics may involve surgeons not just fixing bones—but literally printing them back into existence.