A case of compartmental syndrome secondary to prolonged lithotomy position, treated conservatively

The lithotomy position is widely used in urological surgery to obtain adequ ate exposure of the perineal plane. It is used for instance, for stenosis o f the posterior urethra. Fortunately it rarely gives rise to complications although if the operation takes a long time the patient may suffer various adverse reactions; these range from simple peronel nerve distress to thromboembolism [1, 2] and the much more serious much less than compartmental syndrome much greater than [ 2, 3, 4]. There is still debate about the best therapeutic approach to a le sion caused by prolonged muscle compression, Some suggest immediate fasciot omy, whether others hold out for conservative treatment. We report here a case of compartmental syndrome arising in a patient who ha d to remain the the lithotomy position for a long time, which responded wel l to conservative treatment.