Objective: Neuralgic pain caused by entrapment of peripheral nerves can be a difficult clinical problem. The objective of the present study was to assess pain and quality of life in women with pain secondary to ilioinguinal nerve entrapment.
Design: In a controlled prospective crossover study, women with ilioinguinal nerve entrapment were randomly allocated to either medical treatment or surgical resection of the ilioinguinal nerve.
Setting: A university hospital.
Population: 19 women, 21-60 years of age with pelvic pain of more than 6 months' duration.
Methods and main outcome measures: Visual analogue (VA) scales and psychological general well-being (PGWB) scales were used to validate pain and quality of life, respectively.
Results: Improvements were found in the group randomly allocated to surgery, p < 0.008 for the VA scale and p < 0.0098 for the PGWB scale, respectively. Nine of 10 women discontinued the medical arm of treatment because of side effects and/or lack of effect. After being shifted over to surgery, similar improvements were noted (p < 0.0002 and p < 0.0043, respectively).
Conclusions: The positive results found here indicate that surgery is superior to medical treatment in ilioinguinal nerve entrapment of unknown cause as well as after previous surgery. More randomized trials from different centers with larger numbers of women are needed to confirm these results.
© 2011 The Author Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica© 2011 Nordic Federation of Societies of Obstetrics and Gynecology.