İntramüsküler Enjeksiyona Bağlı İnferior Gluteal Sinir Yaralanması

Abstract

Aim: The purpose of this study was to determine the clinical features of the inferior gluteal nerve (IGN) injury due to intramuscular (IM) injection.
 Material and Methods: Patients with clinical and electrodiagnostic features of the sciatic nerve (SN) and possible IGN injuries due to IM injection were included in this retrospective study. The presence of an IGN injury was considered in patients with weakness in the gluteus maximus (GM) muscle or in those who demonstrated needle electromyography (EMG) abnormality in the GM muscle.
 Results: There were 44 (95.6%) patients with an SN injury only, 1 (2.2%) patient with both an SN and an IGN injury, and 1 (2.2%) patient with an IGN injury only. The complaints of the patient with an IGN injury only occurred within hours to days after the IM injection; this patient had no muscle weakness. The complaints of the patient with both IGN and SN injuries occurred minutes to hours after IM injection; this patient had mild weakness in the plantar flexion of the foot. In 40 of the patients with only an SN injury, complaints occurred immediately after or within a few seconds following the IM injection, while complaints occurred within minutes to hours in the remaining 4 patients.
 Conclusion: Although rare when compared to SN injury, the IGN can be injured by IM injection. Therefore, the GM muscle should be examined with needle EMG in patients with complaints associated with IM injection. Muscle weakness may not occur in nerve injuries due to IM injections.