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Lateral Femoral Cutaneous Nerve Entrapment

  • Chapter
Peripheral Nerve Entrapments

Abstract

The lateral femoral cutaneous nerve (LFCN) is a sensory nerve innervating the anterolateral thigh. It is susceptible to entrapment along its course, usually at its exit from the pelvis under the inguinal ligament. The typical presentation of LFCN neuropathy is pain, paresthesia or dysesthesia, and numbness over the anterolateral thigh. Meralgia paresthetica is the name of this clinical syndrome. However, due to the great variation of LFCN distribution, the clinical presentation may be atypical; other causes such as lumbar radiculopathy need to be ruled out. The management of LFCN neuropathy includes treating underlying conditions and providing symptomatic relief with steroid nerve blocks.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Pain Medicine, Department of Anesthesiology, New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, New York, NY, USA

    Lisa Rochelle Witkin MD

  2. Anesthesiology and Critical Care, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA

    Amitabh Gulati MD (Director of Chronic Pain)

  3. Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, University of Washington Medical Center, Seattle, WA, USA

    Tiffany Zhang MD, PhD

  4. Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle Children’s Hospital, Seattle, WA, USA

    Helen W. Karl MD

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  1. Lisa Rochelle Witkin MD
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  2. Amitabh Gulati MD
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  3. Tiffany Zhang MD, PhD
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  4. Helen W. Karl MD
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Correspondence to Lisa Rochelle Witkin MD .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Pain and Headache Center, Anchorage, AK, USA

    Andrea M. Trescot MD, ABIPP, FIPP (Medical Director) (Medical Director)

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Physical exam of the lateral femoral cutaneous nerve (MOV 29000 kb)

Landmark-guided injection of the lateral femoral cutaneous nerve (MOV 34295 kb)

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Witkin, L.R., Gulati, A., Zhang, T., Karl, H.W. (2016). Lateral Femoral Cutaneous Nerve Entrapment. In: Trescot, A.M. (eds) Peripheral Nerve Entrapments. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-27482-9_61

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