Sciatic neuropathy caused by disorder of a nutrient artery: a case report of thromboembolism secondary to profunda femoral artery aneurysm.

This report describes a case of sciatic neuropathy caused by an obstruction of the nutrient artery of the nerve. The patient was a 76-year-old man who had an aneurysm in his right thigh and suddenly complained of pain and weakness in his right leg. Computed tomography scan and ultrasonography of the right thigh showed an aneurysm with a thrombus in the lumen of the profunda femoral artery. His symptoms did not immediately improve after the aneurysm had been resected, and were consistent with right sciatic neuropathy. Recovery of strength of the right tibialis anterior muscle from 0/5 to 3/5 required 12 months. In this case, thromboemboli from the aneurysm were thought to have obstructed the profunda femoral artery, which supplied the sciatic nerve via perforating arteries.