Sciatic neuropathy following robot-assisted laparoscopic myomectomy under lithotomy position

Received: March 31, 2009. Accepted: May 19, 2009. Corresponding author: Jin Young Lee, M.D., Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, College of Medicine, Seoul St.Mary's Hospital, Banpo-dong, Seocho-gu, Seoul 137-701, Korea. Tel: 82-2-2258-6162, Fax: 82-2-537-1951, E-mail: [email protected] Copyright c Korean Society of Anesthesiologists, 2009 cc This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Sciatic neuropathy is a rare complication of gynecologic procedures with lithotomy position. Anesthesiologists should be aware of the possible causes and take extreme care to prevent nerve injuries. We report a case of postoperative sciatic neuropathy after a robot-assisted laparoscopic myomectomy, despite following recommended guidelines regarding appropriate positioning. Compressive neuropathy following a prolonged operation should be considered. (Korean J Anesthesiol 2009; 57: 113∼6)