Acute Sciatic and Femoral Neuritis Following Total Hip Arthroplasty

Nerve palsies following total hip arthroplasty have been reported by a number of authors1-18. These reports have mainly described problems due to trauma during the operative approach4,6-8,11,16, the effects of lengthening of the lower extremity6,9,11,12,17, compression secondary to cement protrusion5,13 or hematoma formation7, and broken trochan­teric wires1. All nerves about the hip, including the sciatic1-3,5-7, obturator13, femoral8,9,11,14,17, peroneal7,8,11,17, and superior gluteal nerves4, have been involved. Most authors1,5,7,13 have described motor and sensory deficits, with little or no mention of pain5,7-9,11,12,17. To our knowledge, there have been no previous descriptions of cases in which pain was the sole, or even the primary, symptom. The unique feature of our case is the fact that pain was the only subjective problem and there was no objective evidence of any motor or sensory deficit.