Surgical treatment of nervus pudendus

Abstract

An objective of our work was to clarify variations in pudendal nerve formation, as well as their possible impact on the clinical picture.Bilateral pudendal nerve course and formation was studied on 20 adult cadavers. Anterior approach was used in 15 of them, both posterior and anterior approaches were used in five of them. The prefixed type plexus formation was observed in eight cases (40 %). In these cases S1, S2 roots contributed to the formation of the pudendal nerve. In the postfixed type particularly the S3 root was dominant in two cases (66.7 %), and less the S4 root in one case (23.3 %) from three cases. Mostly the S2 root participated in its formation in 17 cases (85 %). The pudendal nerve branches run below the sacrospinous ligament on the level of the sacrospinous and sacrotuberous ligaments. The changes of the nerve and the branching therof were most evident from the anterior access below the sacrospinous ligament and in front of the sacrotuberous ligament. The inferior rectal nerve penetrating the sacrospinous ligament was seen in one case, it has risen from the pudendal nerve before entering the pudendal canal in four cases. The dorsal nerve of the penis has risen from the S1 root in two cases (10 %). We observed its branching before entering the pudendal canal in 15 cases (75 %). It has divided in the pudendal canal in other cases. This description may be useful particularly for the pudendal nerve block and the nerve saving surgeries directed on the relevant region (Fig. 8, Ref. 24).