[Report of a case of compartmental syndrome secondary to prolonged lithotomy position]

The lithotomy position is widely used in urological surgery to obtain adequate exposure of the perineal plane. It is used, for instance, for stenosis of the posterior urethra. Fortunately, it rarely gives rise to complications although if the operation takes a long time the patient may suffer various adverse reactions; these range from simple peroneal nerve distress to thromboembolism [1, 2] and the much more serious "compartmental syndrome" [2, 3, 4]. There is still debate about the best therapeutic approach to a lesion caused by prolonged muscle compression. Some suggest immediate fasciotomy, whether others hold out for conservative treatment. We report here a case of compartmental syndrome arising in a patient who had to remain the the lithotomy position for a long time, which responded well to conservative treatment.