BILATERAL SCIATICA - A PREDICTIVE SIGN FO R SPINAL EXTRADURAL HEMATOMA FOLLOWING LUMBAR DISKECTOMY

The authors analyse five cases, in order to recognize a sensitive earl y clinical feature of extradural haematoma following lumbar diskectomy . Neither time delay (time from surgery to the suspicion of the diagno sis) nor pain intensity (a subjective factor which might be obtunded b y an analgesic drug) are valuable features. The only reliable predicti ve sign is bilateral sciatica, which occurred in all cases, before the diagnosis was confirmed by a sensitive and motor deficit in the lower limbs.