Surgical management for sciatic nerve injury.
OBJECTIVE
To summarize surgical treatments and their corresponding curative effects on sciatic nerve injuries.


METHODS
Surgical treatments on sciatic nerve injury were performed in 28 patients from January 1990 to July 2000. The treatments included neurolysis, neurolysis plus partial nerve anastomosis, nerve anastomosis and nerve transplantation. The curative effect was evaluated according to Sunderland criteria.


RESULTS
Of 28 cases, 22 patients were followed up with a follow-up period of 13 months to 5 years (average 30 months). Of 22 nerves, 7 were excellent, 5 good, 7 fair and 3 poor, with an excellence rate of 54.5%.


CONCLUSIONS
The fair results of sciatic nerve injury are related to its structural character. Surgical exploration should be performed if nerve function does not recover 3 months after primary operation and if Tinel's sign and electromyogram show no signs of nerve regeneration. Electrophysiological monitoring in the operation is useful in electing surgical methods and predicting the results of nerve anastomosis.
Hou
Chunlin
C
Department of Orthopaedics, Changzheng Hospital, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai 200003, China. wangshiboyq@hotmail.com
Wang
Shibo
S
Chen
Aimin
A
Zhang
Wei
W
Kuang
Yong
Y
Liu
Yan
Y
Yin
Chenghui
C
Zhang
Shimin
S
Wang
Jinwu
J
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000714:Anastomosis, Surgical; D002648:Child; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D015601:Injury Severity Score; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009416:Nerve Regeneration / Q000502:physiology; D019635:Neurosurgical Procedures / Q000379:methods*; D020127:Recovery of Function; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012584:Sciatic Nerve / Q000293:injuries*; D020426:Sciatic Neuropathy / Q000209:etiology / Q000601:surgery*; D016896:Treatment Outcome