[Bioresorbable bone adhesives. Historical perspective and current status].

Bone adhesives are degraded to non-toxic products and resorbed after fulfilling their function in contact with living tissue. There has been a growing interest in the use of such adhesives in all fields of medicine in recent years. The wish of trauma surgeons and orthopaedic for alternatives to osteosynthesis is reflected in the development of a variety of surrogates of biological or synthetic origin. Despite a longstanding history of research in this field, a clinically applicable alternative in the field of bone gluing has not yet been found. This application has consistently failed because these adhesives were not tailored to the conditions met within the living organism. The following article is meant to provide an overview of the development, the state of the art, and today's knowledge of bone adhesives. In addition, it points out the tremendous progress in this area, made possible by the joint efforts of basic researchers and surgeons. The results of this collaboration show that in the future a successful reconstructive surgery using synthetic biomaterials will become feasible.