A group of researchers from Korea and the U.S. has created a handheld 3D printing machine that works like a glue gun, however as a substitute of glue, it prints bone-like materials immediately onto fractures. The instrument was examined in rabbits and efficiently helped restore giant bone defects. Though nonetheless within the early phases, the machine might in the future enable surgeons to carry out sooner, extra custom-made bone procedures in people.
The findings, revealed in Gadget on September 5, 2025, come from a multi-institutional collaboration led by Korea College — the place the machine was developed — alongside researchers from Sungkyunkwan College, MIT, Seoul Nationwide College, KAIST, Incheon Nationwide College, and Harvard-affiliated establishments like Massachusetts Normal Hospital and Brigham and Ladies’s Hospital.
The objective was to develop a transportable machine that lets surgeons print bone grafts on demand, throughout surgical procedure, as a substitute of counting on pre-made implants.
Handheld 3D printer for bone implants.
How It Works
The machine appears to be like like a glue gun however is modified to extrude a particular biodegradable, artificial materials made from polycaprolactone (PCL) and hydroxyapatite (HA). Each supplies are biocompatible and generally utilized in medical analysis. PCL is a smooth plastic that melts at low temperatures, making it protected to use immediately onto dwelling tissue. In the meantime, HA is an artificial model of a mineral present in actual bone and is understood to assist therapeutic. By adjusting the ratio of HA to PCL, the researchers can fine-tune the power, flexibility, and the way shortly the implant degrades, relying on the wants of the affected person and the kind of bone being repaired.
In accordance with the examine, the composite filament may be loaded into the hand-held 3D printing machine, which heats and deposits it immediately into the bone defect throughout surgical procedure. After surgeons open the location to reveal the fracture, they’ll manually information the printer, adjusting the angle, depth, and course of the print in actual time. The group confirmed that this course of may be completed shortly, even in advanced fractures, and with out the necessity for scanning or utilizing pre-surgical fashions.
“Our outcomes recommend that the printed scaffold is just not solely biocompatible but in addition actively promotes osteogenesis and vascularization,” the authors wrote within the examine.
Bone Therapeutic and Antibiotic Safety
To cut back the chance of post-surgical an infection, the group added two antibiotics to the filament. These medicine are slowly launched over time on the web site of the harm, serving to stop bacterial progress immediately the place the implant is positioned.
The machine was examined in rabbits with extreme fractures of their femurs. After 12 weeks, the researchers noticed that bones handled with the printed implants healed higher and had been stronger than these handled with commonplace bone cement. There have been additionally no indicators of an infection or tissue injury.
In vitro and in vivo analysis of the biocompatibility, osteoinductivity, and therapeutic efficacy of the PCL/HA scaffolds.
Presently, bone implants, whether or not metallic, ceramic, or 3D printed, are normally made earlier than surgical procedure. This works nicely for easy circumstances, nevertheless it’s a problem for advanced or irregular accidents, the place the bone is damaged in uneven or uncommon methods. In these circumstances, the implant has to match the form of the harm.
For this kind of harm, this new methodology is good; it lets docs print the bone implant immediately within the working room, with the form completely matching the defect. What’s extra, the biodegradable materials regularly dissolves and is changed by pure bone whereas the affected person heals.
“We consider this method has the potential to basically change the paradigm of bone defect therapy by enabling surgeons to manufacture custom-made, biodegradable, and antibacterial implants immediately within the working room with out the necessity for in depth preoperative planning.”
This expertise continues to be within the experimental section. Up to now, it has solely been examined in rabbits. The subsequent steps will embody scaling up testing to bigger animals and making ready the groundwork for future human medical trials.
Earlier than that may occur, the researchers clarify that there’s a want to fulfill a number of key necessities, together with standardizing how the machine is made, ensuring it may be correctly sterilized, and getting approval from well being authorities earlier than it may be utilized in individuals.
“Profitable translation would require addressing these challenges,” the researchers concluded, “however our findings present a stable basis for the medical adoption of this expertise.”
If it passes regulatory approvals, the researchers say this handheld machine might finally grow to be a sensible instrument for orthopedic surgeons, trauma groups, and even area hospitals, providing fast, personalised bone restore with out the necessity for pricey tools and even pre-surgical planning.
Photos courtesy of Jeon et al., In situ printing of biodegradable implant for therapeutic critical-sized bone defect, Gadget (2025)
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