Foot drop and peripheral nerve injury in the legs can be an early harbinger of severe large vessel occlusive disease such as aortic occlusion.
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Alerts clinicians to possible aortic occlusion in unexplained foot drop; hypothesis-generating and requires validation before changing practice.
A man presented with foot drop and 2 months later an infrarenal occlusion of his abdominal aorta was discovered. Initial evaluation found no structural etiology for his nerve injury. His neurologic deficits progressed until gangrenous changes developed in his feet leading to the discovery of aortic occlusion. This case demonstrates that peripheral nerve injury in the legs may signal underlying large vessel occlusive disease. We discuss the localization and potential mechanisms of ischemic nerve injury.
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Larson et al. (1995) studied this question.
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