Cauda Canis: Variation of a Tinel’s Sign for a Sciatic Nerve Tumor

Abstract EN

A patient with a prior history of intradural schwannoma and disc herniation presented with radicular pain after being hit in the thigh by a dog’s tail.

She was worked up and found to have a tumor of her right sciatic nerve.

The tumor was resected and histology was consistent with schwannoma.

The dog’s tail acted as a Tinel’s sign maneuver and led to timely identification of her peripheral nerve tumor.

Peripheral nerve schwannomas can present in unusual forms, and Tinel’s maneuver may be a useful tool in diagnosis.