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Sciatic nerve palsy--a complication of posterior approach using enhanced soft tissue repair for total hip
Parkash Lohana1, David J Woodnutt, Dean E Boyce
1Welsh Centre for Burns and Plastic Surgery, Morriston Hospital, Swansea, Wales SA6 6NL, UK. lohana28@hotmail.co.uk
Abstract:
Sciatic nerve palsy is a rare but well recognised complication of total hip replacement. There are a variety of potential causes of sciatic nerve palsy and its prevalence with different approaches has been mentioned in the literature.(1-5) The posterolateral or 'Southern' approach with some form of enhanced soft tissue repair is a commonly used approach for primary total hip arthroplasty. However, the sciatic nerve is recognised to be in close proximity to the surgical field. We report a case of sciatic nerve palsy after this approach as a result of a surgical suture used for soft tissue repair.
