A new method to evaluate the part of stress in pain: injection of dextrose 5% (neural prolotherapy) on acupuncture points corresonponding to stellate, coeliac and mesenteric ganglions. A pilot study

In neuralgia (neuropathic pain), the skin rolling test is painful (allodynia to pinch) but when painful everywhere on the body (polyneuralgia) it often indicates that the patient is in a stress state, in a fight or flight situation. Thus, when starting a treatment, it is important to differentiate between these patients and those who have perineal pain only. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect on pain and stress of a neural prolotherapy treatment (dextrose 5% injections) at seven acupuncture points linked with orthosympathetic ganglia. The studied population comprised 55 patients treated in two private clinical settings (authors 1 and 2). The short-term effect on pain was studied by comparing the pain induced by the arm skin rolling test before and 15 minutes after injections. To evaluate the long term effect on pain, the average level of body pain during the two weeks preceding the treatment was compared with that following treatment. The World Health Organization (WHO) Five Well-Being Index was used to evaluate the patient’s level of stress before and two weeks after injections. Fifteen minutes after dextrose injections, pain induced by the skin rolling test at the arm was decreased (-3.0 ± 1.6; p<0.0001). Two weeks after treatment, the global body pain score was significantly reduced (-2.0 ± 2.4; p<0.0001) and the total WHO score increased (+21.0 ± 20.5; p<0.0001). Treatment of polyneuralgic patients with neural prolotherapy of seven acupuncture points significantly improves well-being sensation and reduces pain

Pudendal nerve decompression in perineology : a case series

BACKGROUND: Perineodynia (vulvodynia, perineal pain, proctalgia), anal and urinary incontinence are the main symptoms of the pudendal canal syndrome (PCS) or entrapment of the pudendal nerve. The first aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of bilateral pudendal nerve decompression (PND) on the symptoms of the PCS, on three clinical signs (abnormal sensibility, painful Alcock's canal, painful "skin rolling test") and on two neurophysiological tests: electromyography (EMG) and pudendal nerve terminal motor latencies (PNTML). The second aim was to study the clinical value of the aforementioned clinical signs in the diagnosis of PCS. METHODS: In this retrospective analysis, the studied sample comprised 74 female patients who underwent a bilateral PND between 1995 and 2002. To accomplish the first aim, the patients sample was compared before and at least one year after surgery by means of descriptive statistics and hypothesis testing. The second aim was achieved by means of a statistical comparison between the patient's group before the operation and a control group of 82 women without any of the following signs: prolapse, anal incontinence, perineodynia, dyschesia and history of pelvi-perineal surgery. RESULTS: When bilateral PND was the only procedure done to treat the symptoms, the cure rates of perineodynia, anal incontinence and urinary incontinence were 8/14, 4/5 and 3/5, respectively. The frequency of the three clinical signs was significantly reduced. There was a significant reduction of anal and perineal PNTML and a significant increase of anal richness on EMG. The Odd Ratio of the three clinical signs in the diagnosis of PCS was 16,97 (95% CI = 4,68 – 61,51). CONCLUSION: This study suggests that bilateral PND can treat perineodynia, anal and urinary incontinence. The three clinical signs of PCS seem to be efficient to suspect this diagnosis. There is a need for further studies to confirm these preliminary results

Belgique

Obturator neuralgia is commonly diagnosed and treated in orthopedics. It produces groin pain, sensory alteration in the medial thigh (dysesthesia, sensory loss, or pain), adductor muscle weakness and pain/restriction of hip movements. Basically, the clinical diagnosis of obturator neuralgia is made by producing pain during internal rotation of the hip against resistance ("obturator sign") or by extension and lateral leg movements. We postulate obturator neuralgia can induce lower urinary tract symptoms and dyspareunia and be diagnosed by using three clinical signs characterizing neuralgia everywhere on the body: painful nerve trunk (at the entrance of the obturator canal; by vaginal or rectal examination), abnormal sensibility and painful skin rolling test in its cutaneous innervation territory (inferomedial skin of the thigh). To support our assumptions, three female patients with longstanding lower urinary tract symptoms and/or dyspareunia and a clinical examination suggestive of obturator neuralgia (three clinical signs positive) were treated by perineural injections of dextrose 5% in sterile water (D5W). The three patients were clinically improved or cured after the treatment with two of them being cured after a single injection. While waiting for confirmation of these findings by randomized controlled trials, we suggest that obturator neuralgia should be sought in every patient with lower urinary tract symptoms and/or dyspareunia and that obturator perineural D5W injections be tried to relieve these patients

Normative values of skin temperature and thermal sensory thresholds in the pudendal nerve territory.

AIMS: The aim of this study was to define normative values of skin temperature and thermal sensory threshold in the pudendal nerve territory. METHODS: Warm and cold detection thresholds (using the method of limits) and skin temperature were measured in a group of 41 presumably healthy female volunteers aged 41 years (range: 23-66 years) at left thenar eminence and in the pudendal nerve territory. Outlying data were discarded and 95% normative values were derived assuming Normal distributions. RESULTS: Room temperature averaged 24.3 +/- 1.1 degrees . Skin temperature and cold detection threshold value were greater anteriorly (clitoris, labia) than posteriorly (para-anal). Para-anal skin temperature and cold detection threshold value were also significantly lower on the right side than on the left side. The warm detection threshold was significantly lower at the clitoris level than at left and right labia. A significant positive effect of skin temperature on cold and warm detection thresholds values was noted especially at thenar and para-anal levels. Age had no effect on skin temperature but warm detection thresholds at clitoris were higher in older subjects. The only qualitative abnormalities observed were after-sensation (4.9%) and habituation (2.8%). Allodynia, dysesthesia, radiation, and dyslocalization were not observed. Two-sided normative values were determined for skin temperature, vertical, and horizontal differences, while one-sided values were derived for cold and warm detection thresholds as well as for their difference. CONCLUSIONS: Normative values for perineal skin temperature and thermal detection thresholds can be used as an alternative non-invasive way to evaluate pudendal neuropathy

Clinical usefulness of quantitative thermal sensory testing in the diagnosis and surgical treatment of women with pudendal neuropathy.

peer reviewed[en] BACKGROUND: The aim of this study, conducted on women with pudendal neuropathy, was to evaluate the usefulness of quantitative thermal sensory testing (QTST) in the diagnosis, surgical management, and prognosis of the disease. METHODS: The study was conducted on 90 women with pudendal neuropathy. QTST in pudendal nerve sensory innervation territory was realized before and more than 24 months after operative pudendoscopy on most patients. Cold and warm thresholds were evaluated together with a search for qualitative anomalies. The diagnostic value of QTST was assessed by comparing baseline data with normative values previously derived from 41 presumably healthy women. The effect of operative pudendoscopy on thermal sensitivity was tested by comparing preoperative and postoperative measurements. Assessment of the long-term prognostic value of QTST was based on "surgical success" defined as a VAS pain level less than 4 at least 2 years after surgery. RESULTS: The existence of qualitative anomalies, like anesthesia, allodynia, dysesthesia, radiation, and dyslocalization, was clearly indicative of pudendal neuropathy. The presence of after sensation and "out of limit" values of skin temperature and cold detection threshold were also helpful for diagnosing the disease. Surgery reduced qualitative anomalies but had no positive effect on QTST thresholds. QTST measurements had no real prognostic value but other factors like constipation and abnormal perineal descent were predictive of surgical success. CONCLUSION: For women with pudendal neuropathy, QTST can be considered a useful, non-invasive tool in the diagnosis, and management of the disease, but it cannot predict satisfactorily long-term outcome of operative pudendoscopy

Endoscopic transperineal pudendal nerve decompression: operative pudendoscopy.

BACKGROUND: Pudendal nerve entrapment can produce a pudendal syndrome comprising perineodynia together with urinary, sexual, and anorectal symptoms. This syndrome can be treated surgically by the transperineal approach. By using an endoscope during the procedure ("operative pudendoscopy"), the surgeon has close-up visual control of each decompression steps, demonstrates the different levels of entrapment, and cuts the sacrospinous ligament under visual control. The aim of this study was to describe the technical details of this new technique and its outcome in the treatment of the pudendal syndrome. METHODS: A series of 113 patients with severe pudendal syndrome underwent operative pudendoscopy. A complete history, pain visual analog scale (VAS) for perineodynia, and four scores evaluating the main symptoms (ICIQ-SF, NHI-CPSI, St Mark's, and Wexner) were obtained before and at least 24 months after surgery. The three clinical signs of pudendal syndrome (abnormal pinprick sensitivity, painful skin rolling test, and painful pudendal nerve) and perineal descent were analyzed before and after surgery in 91 patients. RESULTS: The mean operating time per side was 50.3 +/- 15.2 min and the average hospital stay was 2.1 +/- 0.4 days. Perineodynia VAS dropped from 7.2 +/- 1.4 to 4.5 +/- 2.9 after surgery (p /= 1.5 cm measured with a Perineocaliper(R)) observed in 13 patients was reduced from 1.81 to 0.77 cm after surgery (p < 0.0001). The only significant complication was severe hemorrhage in one patient induced by an inferior gluteal vessel laceration and successfully treated by arterial embolization. CONCLUSIONS: A complete pudendal nerve decompression, from the distal branches to the sacral foramina, safely performed under visual control by using operative pudendoscopy markedly improves clinical signs and symptoms of the pudendal syndrome

Pelvic trauma and pudendal syndrome (post-traumatic pudendal syndrome)

The pudendal syndrome can result from pelvic trauma but the link is difficult to prove. The study was intended to disentangle potentially linking elements of the post-traumatic pudendal syndrome, in particular perineodynia (perineal pain), one of the salient symptoms of the pudendal syndrome. Two case reports were used to illustrate the point. The study was based on 394 female patients of whom 216 (54.8%) had a history of pelvic trauma. Patients were further classified into mutually exclusive groups according to presence/absence of perineodynia and, for those with pelvic trauma, according to latency of pain appearance (pain before trauma, early onset, or late onset). Urge urinary incontinence, cystalgia, anal incontinence and proctalgia fugax were found statistically more frequent in the pelvic trauma group. Perineodynia visual analog score, NHI-CPSI score and Wexner’s score were also significantly greater in traumatic patients. The three pudendal syndrome clinical signs were significantly more present in pelvic trauma patients than in non-trauma subjects. In the three post-traumatic perineodynia groups with different latency, only minor significant symptoms frequency differences were observed but importantly urge incontinence, cystalgia, anal incontinence and proctalgia fugax remained more frequent than in the non-trauma perineodynia group for similar pain scores. Post-traumatic pudendal syndrome is a reality. Perineodynia, urge incontinence, anal incontinence, proctalgia fugax and cystalgia are the most frequently symptoms encountered. These findings recommend performing a detailed history search for any symptom of the pudendal syndrome and a comprehensive clinical examination including its three clinical signs after any significant pelvic trauma