Don't Forget the Pulses! Aortoiliac Peripheral Artery Disease Masquerading as Lumbar Radiculopathy-A Report of 3 Cases.

Orthopedic surgeons commonly encounter patients with lumbar radiculopathy. These patients typically seek treatment for lower back or buttock pain radiating down the leg. It can be challenging to differentiate between orthopedic, neurologic, and vascular causes of leg pain, such as peripheral artery disease (PAD), especially aortoiliac PAD, which can present with hip, buttock, and thigh pain. To our knowledge, this is the first report on a series of patients with thigh pain initially diagnosed as radiculopathy who underwent unproductive diagnostic tests and procedures, and ultimately were given delayed diagnoses of aortoiliac PAD.