Patent ID: 7147628

Claim:
An absorbent article, comprising: an elongate absorbent core having an upper surface and a lower surface, a pair of opposed longitudinal edge portions terminating in longitudinal edges, and a pair of opposed transverse edges, the core having a first end portion, a second end portion and a central portion located between the end portions; a liquid permeable topsheet extending over the upper surface; a liquid barrier backsheet covering the lower surface of the absorbent core, leakage barriers, a respective one of the leakage barriers covering each of the longitudinal edge portions and forming a liquid-retaining pocket along each longitudinal edge portion, wherein the leakage barriers each have an extension transversely across the absorbent core, the extension being between 5% and 25% of the total width of the sanitary napkin at the wetting area; and first spacers arranged between the absorbent core and each of the leakage barriers, the first spacers being arranged at a distance from each other along a length of the leakage barriers so as to form fluid conducting first channels between the leakage barriers and the absorbent core, wherein the first spacers have a length and a width, wherein the width is the dimension between two adjacent first channels and the length is the dimension perpendicular to the width, wherein the first spacers extend, in the length-wise direction of the first spacers, generally perpendicularly to the longitudinal edge portions, wherein the first channels have a length and a width, wherein the width is the dimension between two adjacent first spacers and the length is the dimension perpendicular to the width, wherein the first channels extend, in the length-wise direction of the first channels, generally perpendicularly to the longitudinal edge portions.