{
  "abstract": "Background Sciatic neuropathies are uncommon and typically present with foot drop. Trauma and hip surgery are the common causes of injury to the sciatic nerve, with other causes being rare. 1 Case A 30-year-old G6P5 female presented with lower back pain radiating down both legs and right foot drop. She initially presented with worsening lower back pain from 18 weeks gestation. She re-presented 6-weeks later with ongoing back pain with radiation down her right leg with associated weakness.Examination found weakness of right ankle dorsiflexion and reduced sensation in the L5 dermatome. MRI lumbosacral spine found a minor disc bulge at L4/L5 without nerve impingement.Two weeks after uncomplicated spontaneous vaginal delivery she re-presented with a fall. There was ongoing pain in the right leg and weakness had progressed to involve all directions of hip, knee and ankle movement. Ankle jerk was absent. Nerve conduction study showed right lumbosacral plexopathy. MRI pelvis demonstrated an 85mm pelvic mass arising from the lumbosacral plexus which was isointense to skeletal muscle on T1 and heterogenous in appearance with cystic foci on T2, suggesting peripheral nerve sheath tumour.Back pain and sciatica are often attributed to radiculopathy, but it is important to consider other pathologies including trauma, radiation, and intrinsic or extrinsic compression.1 Post-partum plexopathy can occur related to foetus size and position, and birth trauma. Here we represent a rare cause of sciatic in pregnancy due to a peripheral nerve sheath tumour.Reference Distad BJ, Weiss MD. Clinical and electrodiagnostic features of sciatic neuropathies. Phys Med Rehabil Clin N Am. 2013 Feb;24(1):107–20. doi: 10.1016/j.pmr.2012.08.023. Epub 2012 Oct 31. PMID: 23177034.",
  "authors": [
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Princess Alexandra Hospital, Woolloongabba, QLD, Australia"
      ],
      "name": "Joshua Tam"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Princess Alexandra Hospital, Woolloongabba, QLD, Australia"
      ],
      "name": "David Lee"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Pathology Queensland, Princess Alexandra Hospital, Woolloongabba, QLD, Australia",
        "Faculty of Medicine, University of Queensland, QLD, Australia"
      ],
      "name": "Cheng Liu"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Princess Alexandra Hospital, Woolloongabba, QLD, Australia"
      ],
      "name": "Laurie McLaughlin"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Princess Alexandra Hospital, Woolloongabba, QLD, Australia"
      ],
      "name": "Cullen O’Gorman"
    }
  ],
  "title": "3685 A rare cause of post-partum sciatica: tumour masquerading as a l5 radiculopathy",
  "uid": "3fafd060-9e8a-5772-a060-6a742c779327"
}