Recovery of sciatic nerve injuries in association with total hip arthroplasty in 27 patients

We analyzed 27 sciatic nerve injuries associated with total hip arthroplasty (THA). The patients were 23 women and 4 men, and their median age was 55 years (range, 28-75 years). In 1987 to 1995, 4,339 THAs were performed. Primary arthroplasties accounted for 3,471 and 868 were revisions. Nine patients had developmental dysplasia of the hip. Six operations were revisions. Radiologic lengthening was median 1.4 cm (range, -1 to 4.1 cm); in 8 cases, lengthening was greater than 2 cm. The median follow-up period was 58 months (range, 24-110 months). Eight patients recovered fully, the recovery of 7 patients was fair, and 12 patients had a considerable permanent disability. The risk of nerve injury was not related to the extent of lengthening. The recovery of the nerve injury was only weakly correlated to its primary postoperative extent. The sciatic nerve injury rate was 0.6%.