ARTIFICIAL DURA MATER AND PROCESS FOR PRODUCING THE SAME

摘要

An artificial dura mater comprising a laminate of at least two layers of in vivo degradable polymer, at least one of the layers being a base layer, wherein the base layer is constituted of a copolymer of lactic acid/glycolic acid/ɛ-caprolactone whose constituent mol fraction ratio is 60 to 85 : 3 to 15 : 10 to 30 mol%, the copolymer having average chain lengths satisfying the following formulae (1) to (3). Further, there is provided a process for producing the artificial dura mater. In the use of this artificial dura mater, needle hole enlargement is slight, so that liquid leakage would not occur. Moreover, preferably, the strength retaining period thereof is slightly longer than the regeneration period of autologous dura mater. 2 < L(LA) < [LA%/(LA%+GA%+CL%)]xXx0.058 (1) 1 < L(GA) < [GA%/(LA%+GA%+CL%)]xXx0.58 (2) 1 < L(CL) < [CL%/(LA%+GA%+CL%)]xXx0.58 (3) (wherein L(LA), L(GA) and L(CL) represent the average chain lengths of lactic acid, glycolic acid and caprolactone units, respectively; LA%, GA% and CL% represent the mol fractions of lactic acid, glycolic acid and caprolactone in the copolymer, respectively; and X is the degree of polymerization of the copolymer).