title: Lower Back Pain with Sciatic Disorder Following L5 Dermatome Caused by Herpes Zoster Infection.
abstract: We report the case of a 62-year-old patient with lower back pain radiating into the right leg accompanied by numbness. The pain had an acute onset and was resistant to conservative pain treatment. A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan of the lumbar spine showed no degenerative discovertebral lesions, but a swelling of the nerve root supplying the affected dermatome. For pain treatment the patient received lumbar epidural infiltrations. During this treatment the patient suddenly developed a skin rash with grouped vesicular blisters on an erythematous ground. After the diagnosis of a lumbar herpes zoster and an acyclovir treatment, the patient could be discharged in an ameliorated condition. This case demonstrates the importance to consider rare causes of lumbosciatic pain and disorders and to acknowledge unspecific changes in a MRI scan.
authors.affiliation: LVR-Clinic of Orthopedic Surgery , Viersen, Germany.
authors.forename: Roslind Karolina
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Hackenberg
authors.affiliation: LVR-Clinic of Orthopedic Surgery , Viersen, Germany.
authors.forename: Arnd
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: von den Driesch
authors.affiliation: LVR-Clinic of Orthopedic Surgery , Viersen, Germany.
authors.forename: Dietmar Pierre
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: König
keywords: Herpes zoster; epidural infiltration; hypesthesia; lumbosciatic pain