[Femoral nerve lesion in heparin therapy]

Two case reports on femoral nerve lesion due to hematoma in the iliopsoas muscle or as the case may be in the iliacus muscles on both sides are presented with review of the literature. Synopsis of the reported cases--certainly a minority of anticoagulant therapy complications nevertheless increasingly mentioned in the literature--suggests that there might be a higher risk of bleeding for women within the first week of so-called high-dose heparin therapy. Coagulation studies do not contribute essentially in preventing retroperitoneal haematoma since they are within therapeutic limits in many cases. So clinical observation is crucial in the diagnosis of this complication of heparin therapy, which might occur more frequently under concomitant administration of acetacylic acid. Early surgical decompression of the femoral nerve seems to provide better results seen on follow-up than conservative treatment, especially in patients with rapid onset of severe limb weakness.