title: Femoral nerve palsy associated with an associated posterior wall transverse acetabular fracture.
abstract: A case is presented of a patient who sustained bilateral acetabular fractures in a motor vehicle crash. On the right, he sustained a variant associated posterior wall transverse fracture, with a femoral nerve lesion noted preoperatively. Open reduction and internal fixation of both fractures was performed in a staged fashion with an ilio-inguinal approach on the right. At surgery, the femoral nerve was 90% divided and damaged over approximately 5 cm of length, with marked damage also of the ilio-psoas muscle and tendon and the inguinal canal. No attempt was made to repair the nerve, and at 11-month follow-up he has had no recovery and electrodiagnostic tests indicate no femoral nerve function.
authors.affiliation: Orthopaedic Surgery, Waikato Hospital, Hamilton, New Zealand.
authors.forename: S L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Hardy
mesh_terms: D000063:Accidents, Traffic; D000077:Acetabulum / Q000293:injuries*; D000328:Adult; D004576:Electromyography; D005267:Femoral Nerve / Q000293:injuries*; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005593:Fracture Fixation, Internal / Q000379:methods; D050723:Fractures, Bone / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010243:Paralysis / Q000150:complications* / Q000601:surgery; D010523:Peripheral Nervous System Diseases / Q000150:complications / Q000601:surgery; D011859:Radiography