Treatment concepts for idiopathic and iatrogenic femoral nerve mononeuropathy

Femoral mononeuropathy has many etiologies and is often quite disabling, causing lower extremity paresthesia, anesthesia, pain, or paresis. Despite its morbidity, few therapies have been described to treat the femoral nerve palsy that does not resolve with conservative management or that is refractory to physical therapy. In this report, we present 3 cases of femoral nerve palsy; one as a complication of local nerve block, one as a complication of laparotomy, and one of idiopathic origin. In each case, symptomatic and objective improvement was achieved with femoral neurolysis. We suggest guidelines for the management of those patients who fail to respond to conservative therapy and indications for surgical intervention.