Harshavardhana Nanjundappa S, Dabke Harshad V
Inverclyde Royal Hospital , Greenock.
Salisbury District Hospital , Wiltshire, United Kingdom.
Orthop Rev (Pavia). 2014 Oct 1;6(3):5428. doi: 10.4081/or.2014.5428. eCollection 2014 Aug 8.
Atypical sciatica and discrepancy between clinical presentation and imaging findings is a dilemma for treating surgeon in management of lumbar disc herniation. It also constitutes ground for failed back surgery and potential litigations thereof. Furcal nerve (Furcal = forked) is an independent nerve with its own ventral and dorsal branches (rootlets) and forms a link nerve that connects lumbar and sacral plexus. Its fibers branch out to be part of femoral and obturator nerves in-addition to the lumbosacral trunk. It is most commonly found at L4 level and is the most common cause of atypical presentation of radiculopathy/sciatica. Very little is published about the furcal nerve and many are unaware of its existence. This article summarizes all the existing evidence about furcal nerve in English literature in an attempt to create awareness and offer insight about this unique entity to fellow colleagues/professionals involved in spine care.
非典型坐骨神经痛以及临床表现与影像学检查结果之间的差异，是腰椎间盘突出症治疗外科医生在处理过程中面临的一个难题。这也构成了腰椎手术失败及潜在诉讼的原因。分叉神经（Furcal = 叉状）是一条独立的神经，有其自己的腹侧和背侧分支（神经根丝），并形成一条连接腰丛和骶丛的联络神经。其纤维除了腰干之外，还分支成为股神经和闭孔神经的一部分。它最常见于L4水平，是神经根病/坐骨神经痛非典型表现的最常见原因。关于分叉神经的文献报道极少，许多人并不知道它的存在。本文总结了英文文献中关于分叉神经的所有现有证据，旨在提高认识，并为参与脊柱护理的同行/专业人员提供关于这个独特实体的见解。
