Femoral nerve palsy in hip replacement due to pelvic cement extrusion

We report a case in which cement protrusion into the pelvis led to a major complication. During reaming and preparation of the anterosuperior acetabul um, a bony defect resulted which made fixation of an uncemented cup impossi ble, and a cemented polyethylene cup was used instead. After surgery the pa tient suffered a complete loss of femoral nerve function. Postoperative Xra ys and CTs showed that a huge mass of bone cement protruded into the pelvis in close proximity to the iliac vessels and the femoral nerve, This probab ly led to nerve damage during the cement's polymerisation process due to th e heat.