Application and development of polyetheretherketone material in skull defect repair

• PEEK has become a preferred material for skull defect repair, with global clinical applications exceeding 200,000 cases and an infection rate of 3.7%, significantly lower than PMMA (9.2%). • The field has evolved through three stages: traditional materials (2009-2014), clinical research (2015-2019), and 3D printing/finite element analysis (2020-2024), with the latest stage accounting for 42% of publications. • China, the United States, and Germany are the leading contributors, together accounting for over 75% of the literature, but China's research is predominantly clinical (68%) with limited basic innovation (15%). • The research focus has shifted from passive repair to active bioactivity promotion, with 3D printing, surface modification, and intelligent integration as core directions, and conductive PEEK is predicted to accelerate translation by 2026-2027.