A unique case of bilateral sciatic nerve variation within the gluteal compartment and associated clinical...

An abnormal course of a nerve either through or around a muscle may yield multiple or anomalous muscle innervation. Further, if nerves are inappropriately trapped within the confines of a muscle or irregular boundaries, variant emergence of a nerve could give rise to symptoms of an entrapment neuropathy. Upon routine dissection in the Department of Anatomy at the American University of Antigua College of Medicine, bilateral variants in the emergence of the sciatic nerve from the pelvis to the gluteal compartment were discovered in an elderly adult female cadaver. In the left gluteal compartment, the sciatic nerve had a high division where the peroneal division exited the pelvis superior to the piriformis muscle while the tibial division exited inferior to the piriformis. In the right gluteal compartment, the peroneal division was observed to have exited the pelvis between a split piriformis muscle before it joined the tibial division of the sciatic nerve. Knowledge of such variations in the course of the sciatic nerve may improve diagnosis and treatment of pathologies in this region.