Sciatic nerve palsy – a complication of posterior approach using enhanced soft tissue repair for total hip arthroplasty

Summary Sciatic nerve palsy is a rare but well recognised complication of total hip replacement. There are a variety of potential causes of sciatic nerve palsy and its prevalence with different approaches has been mentioned in the literature.1–5 The posterolateral or ‘Southern’ approach with some form of enhanced soft tissue repair is a commonly used approach for primary total hip arthroplasty. However, the sciatic nerve is recognised to be in close proximity to the surgical field. We report a case of sciatic nerve palsy after this approach as a result of a surgical suture used for soft tissue repair.