THE BILATERAL HIGH DIVISION OF THE SCIATIC NERVE IN THE PELVIS

Abstract

The sciatic nerve is the thickest nerve of the body.1 It leaves the pelvis below the piriformis via the greater sciatic foramen and descends between the ischial tuberosity and greater trochanter in the back of the thigh, dividing into the tibial and common peroneal nerves proximal to the knee however, the level of bifurcation can be variable.2The levels of division of the sciatic nerve are important in anaesthesia, orthopaedics, rehabilitation, and neurology.3The study was done by dissection of forty-two human adult lower limb specimens, irrespective of sex from the Department of Anatomy, Indira Gandhi Medical College, Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, India. During dissection, 02(4.8%) specimens out of 42 specimens showed high division, 28(66.6%) specimens showed intermediate, and 12 (28.6%) specimens showed low division of the sciatic nerve.The bilateral highdivision of the sciatic nerve is a rare variation. Knowledge about the level of division of the sciatic nerve is important for clinicians and surgeons.