Use of porcine dermis as a dural substitute in 72 patients

Abstract

Experience over a 2-year period with the use of porcine dermis as a dural substitute is reported. In this series, porcine dermis was used for dural repair in a total of 72 patients. In a further 28 patients, one of the authors (A.E.B.) used porcine dermis to wrap lumbar nerve roots at the time of surgery for either prolapsed intervertebral disc or extradural lumbar nerve root adhesions. The authors report the advantages of this material which include ready availability and low cost. It is extremely pliable, easy to handle, and can be applied to relatively inaccessible areas. It appears to become rapidly adherent so that suture fixation is frequently not required. No evidence of a foreign-body inflammatory response has been found. No untoward result has been encountered in the 28 patients in whom porcine dermis was used to wrap lumbar nerve roots but it remains too early to show whether this will reduce the incidence of postoperative extradural adhesions.