Human dural replacement with acellular dermis: Clinical results and a review of the literature

Background. The search for the ideal dural replacement in the setting where autogenous tissues are unavailable or inadequate still persists. Because o f the ability of acellular dermis (AlloDerm, LifeCell Corporation, The Wood lands, TX) to remodel itself into native tissue, this dynamic quality is hy pothesized to occur when used as a dural replacement. Methods. We report the long-term outcome of a small cohort of patients who, to our knowledge, were the first patients to receive AlloDerm for dural re placement. In addition, to put these current findings in a historical persp ective, we present a review of the literature for dural replacement. Results. Ten patients all successfully underwent duraplasty with AlloDerm w ith only one postoperative complication that was not related to the acellul ar dermal dural repair. Conclusions. We contend that AlloDerm is a safe and Viable option for dural replacement in cases in which autogenous tissues are either unavailable or insufficient for proper reconstruction. (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.