Femoral nerve palsy caused by a self-retaining polyretractor during major pelvic surgery

Postoperative femoral neuropathy is not a well-recognized complication in urology. We report 2 cases of femoral nerve palsy due to compression ascribed to the use of the self-retaining retractor. In the first case, the left femoral nerve was injured, and in the second case nerve injury was bilateral and synchronous. The clinical symptoms were a weakness of the quadriceps muscle and sensory anesthesia of the surrounding skin. Copyright (C) 2002 S. Karger AG, Basel.