Clinical spectrum, risk factors & electrophysiological evaluation of sciatic nerve injury in patients presenting to a tertiary care hospital

Background and Objective: Sciatic nerve injury (SNI) is the second most common neuropathy of the lower extremities. The objective of this study was to find out the clinical spectrum and risk factors of SNI and to evaluate correlation between electrophysiological and clinical severity. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 85 consecutive patients clinically diagnosed with sciatic neuropathy in the months of July 2022 to Dec 2022 who presented in department of Neurology, King Edward Medical University were examined electrophysiologically. Patients with polyneuropathy, plexopathy, radiaculopathy were excluded from the study. NCS & EMG were performed by conventional methods. Findings were noted in the predesigned pro forma along with history & demographic variables. Results:  Out of total of 85 patients, 80% were males and 20% were females. Forty-three patients presented with traumatic injuries (49.4%), 34 patients had injection-induced nerve injury in gluteal region (40%), and remaining eight presented with history of hip surgeries (9.4%). Electrodiagnostic studies (EDX) revealed axonal damage in all the injuries. Peroneal division was predominantly involved in 55% of patients, and 26.6% had equal involvement of both the components. Common clinical presentations were sensory loss and foot drop. There was a moderate positive correlation between EDX and clinical severity (R = 0.65) Conclusion: SNI is not an uncommon in our setup and often remains under-reported. Common etiology of SNI was improper intramuscular injection in our study and pattern of injury was axonal in nature.