Dural Graft, Dura Substitute or Dural Patch: What the Terms Mean

Dural graft, dura graft, dura substitute and dural patch all describe material used to close or reinforce a defect in the dura mater. The terms overlap heavily: “graft” and “patch” describe the role, while “substitute” stresses a manufactured material that takes the place of dura. DESU’s DECOLL and DURASHEET are collagen-based dura substitutes made from pure Type I bovine collagen.

The words are used interchangeably in operating notes, product literature, tenders and search engines, which causes small but real confusion: items not found in a hospital’s item master, tenders that unintentionally narrow the field, and search results that mix unrelated procedures. DESU’s products are on our dural grafts page.

What does each term mean?

The table summarises what each term emphasises and where it is most often seen. None of them is wrong; they simply put the weight in different places.

For a wider list of dural repair vocabulary, from anatomy to complications, see our dural repair glossary.

Are a dural graft and a dura substitute the same thing?

In most conversations, yes. The distinction is one of emphasis. “Graft” is the older surgical word and covers everything, including the patient’s own tissue. “Substitute” is mostly used for manufactured products. A surgeon who repairs a defect with pericranium has used a dural graft, but would rarely call it a dura substitute.

Manufacturers often use both terms for the same product. DESU describes DECOLL as “a Type I bovine collagen-based dural graft developed as a dura substitute”, which captures the overlap in one sentence.

Is a dural patch different from an epidural blood patch?

Yes, and the two are often mixed up in search results. A dural patch, in the surgical sense, is a piece of graft material placed over or into a dural defect during an operation. An epidural blood patch is a separate procedure in which a small volume of the patient’s own blood is injected into the epidural space, typically to treat headache after a dural puncture. No graft material is involved.

Buyers and clinical teams searching for “dural patch” products should be aware that the two share a name and nothing else.

What are the main types of dural graft material?

Dural graft materials fall into three broad groups. Each is in clinical use, and the choice between them belongs to the surgeon.

• Autologous tissue: the patient’s own tissue, such as pericranium or fascia, harvested during the same operation.
• Collagen-based grafts: membranes or matrices made from processed animal-derived collagen. Devices made from animal tissues are governed by the ISO 22442 series.
• Other synthetic materials: membranes made from manufactured, non-biological materials.

Each group has its own considerations around availability, handling and documentation. We cover those in a neutral way, without ranking one above another, in our buyer’s guide to synthetic and collagen dural substitutes.

Do the terms say anything about technique?

No. A dural graft, substitute or patch can be placed in different ways, and the term does not tell you which. Two broad approaches are commonly described:

• Onlay: the graft is laid over the defect and overlaps the surrounding dura.
• Sutured: the graft is fixed to the dural edges with sutures.

Which technique is appropriate for a given defect is a surgical decision. What a product’s description does tell you is how it is intended to be used, and that is where the instructions for use become the reference.

Where do DECOLL and DURASHEET fit?

Both DESU products belong to the collagen-based group. Both are manufactured from pure Type I bovine collagen, are biodegradable, have an impermeable pore structure that forms a barrier at the repair site, can be used at different CSF pressure levels and can be applied as an onlay. Both are supplied ready to use without pre-processing, are gamma sterilised and come in four sizes: 2.5 × 2.5, 5 × 5, 7.5 × 7.5 and 10 × 10 cm.

• DECOLL is a collagen dura membrane, applied as an onlay.
• DURASHEET is a dural graft matrix. It is suturable, can be used from either surface, and has high tensile strength and high absorption capacity.

In terminology terms, both are dural grafts, both are dura substitutes, and either could be called a dural patch in the OR. The product names simply describe the format: a membrane in one case, a matrix in the other.

Why does terminology matter for buyers?

Words shape what a hospital can find and what a tender allows. A few practical points:

• Item master: list common synonyms (dural graft, dura graft, dura substitute, dural patch) so staff searching under any of them find the same item.
• Tenders: specify the material group, format, sizes and intended technique rather than relying on one term, which may be read more narrowly than intended.
• Preference cards: name the product and size, not just “dural patch”, so the scrub team opens the right item.
• Implant records: record the product name and lot exactly as labelled, whatever term the operative note uses.

Clear wording costs nothing and prevents the small mismatches that slow down a case or a procurement cycle.

Talk to a DESU product specialist

If you are writing a tender, setting up an item master or comparing dural graft options, DESU’s product specialists can provide documentation and samples for DECOLL and DURASHEET. Write to sales@desu.tr, use the contact page, or request a quote.