Results of pudendal nerve neurolysis-transposition in twelve patients suffering from pudendal neuralgia.

Abstract

Pudendal neuralgia caused by nerve compression may be improved by surgical decompression of the pudendal nerve. This study was undertaken to determine if clinical symptoms, electrophysiological investigations, and the efficacy of preoperative pudendal nerve blocks could be used to predict the efficacy of surgery. Twelve consecutive patients complaining of anal pain, genital pain, or both, exacerbated in the sitting position and unsuccessfully treated by analgesic drugs before referral were studied. In these 12 patients decompression of the pudendal nerve was performed after unsuccessful CT-guided injection of corticosteroids in the pudendal nerve at the ischial spine or after pain relapse following successful injections. Nineteen nerves were decompressed by surgery, and the compressed area was located between the sacrospinal and sacrotuberal ligaments for 18 nerves. Three months after surgery, four patients were totally relieved, and three were only partially improved. After 21 months of follow-up, three patients were cured, one was slightly improved, and eight remained in pain. In the three patients cured by surgery, pain completely disappeared for at least two weeks after a nerve block repeated twice before surgery, whereas pain relief was observed in only one of the nine other patients (P = 0.018). None of the three patients cured by surgery were being treated for depression, whereas six of the nine remaining patients were receiving antidepressants or were followed by a psychiatrist (P = 0.09). Results of surgery did not depend on other preoperative clinical or electrophysiological data. This preliminary study suggests that complete disappearance of pain for at least two weeks after a nerve block repeated twice before surgery may be the best criterion to predict success. Based on this criterion, surgery would have been performed in four patients in this study, of whom three would have been cured.