Impending discectomy in a patient with zoster induced sciatica; an instructive case report

Herpes zoster is a rare cause of non-discogenic sciatica. a combination of case rarity and name similarity was nearly leading to an inopportune surgery in a 21 years old woman. the clinical presentation was completely similar to a cauda equina syndrome associated with urinary incontinence and bilateral leg involvement. concurrently,lumbosacral imaging of another patient with exactly similar name in the picture archiving communications system (pacs) has shown a huge l5-1 disc herniation. careful attention to all diverse causes of sciatica and identifying details of the images could prevent improper discectomy in our patient.