European Journal of Anatomy

Official Journal of The Spanish Society of Anatomy
Cover Volume 24 - Number 2
Eur J Anat, 24 (2): 129-133 (2020)

Neurotization of femoral nerve using the anterior branch of the obturator nerve

Francisco Martínez-Martínez1, María Ll. Guerrero-Navarro2, Miguel Sáez-Soto1, José M. Moreno-Fernández1, Antonio García-López3

1Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Hospital Clínico Universitario Virgen de la Arrixaca, Murcia (Spain), 2Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Hospital General Universitario Santa Lucía, Cartagena (Spain), 3Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Hospital General Universitario de Alicante (Spain)

ABSTRACT Nerve transfer is nowadays a standard proce-dure for motor reinnervation. There is a vast num-ber of articles in the literature which describe dif-ferent techniques of neurotization performed after brachial plexus injuries. Although lower limb nerve transfers have also been studied, the number of articles are much limited. The sacrifice of a donor nerve to reinnervate a disrupted one causes mor-bidity of whichever structures that healthy nerve innervated before the transfer. New studies are focused on isolating branches or fascicles of the main donor trunk that can also be useful for rein-nervation in order to limit donor site motor dysfun-tion.Femoral nerve injury due to trauma or surgery cause loss of function of the iliopsoas and quadri-ceps muscles, which impairs normal gait. In this article we present two clinical cases of femoral nerve injury that were successfully treated with the anterior branch of the obturator nerve.

Keywords: Femoral nerve injury â?? Obturator nerve â?? Nerve transfer â?? Lower limb trauma â?? Quadriceps dysfunction

European Journal of anatomy
ISSN 2340-311X (Online)