Common peroneal nerve palsy in maxillofacial surgery setting.

Common peroneal nerve palsy in maxillofacial surgery setting is an uncommon and rarely reported complication. A patient who developed common peroneal nerve palsy following reduction and fixation of pan facial fractures under general anesthesia is presented. The patient developed common peroneal nerve palsy on the second postoperative day. He recovered with conservative treatment after 3 months. The authors consider that the nerve palsy was a result of compression of common peroneal nerve related to patient positioning in the perioperative period. Patient- and surgery-related risk factors are also to be considered. Thus, for at risk patients, positioning is of utmost importance in both intra- and peri-operative period.