Minimally Invasive Interventions on Ganglion Impar in Treatment of Patients with Coccygodynia

Abstract

Chronic pelvic pain (CPP) is usually treated conservatively, but in patients who do not respond to treatment, ganglion impar (GI) interventions are used as an alternative way to reduce pain.

Objective ‒ to study the course of pain syndrome and functional status in patients with coccygodynia (CD) and CPP during the application of minimally invasive interventions on GI.

Materials and methods. The analysis of the results of 56 interventions on GI in 50 patients was performed. Inclusion criteria were patients with coccyx pain for ≥3 months aged 23 to 71 years (mean age 47.9±14.8years) who did not respond to conservative treatment methods. 15 (35.7%) of the study participants were male and 27 (64.3%) were female. Interventions were performed on the patients according to five different methods, which were divided into two groups: the first group (n=34) ‒ GI block (GIB) with a local anesthetic and a steroid (patients with CD in whom medical conservative methods of treatment were not effective). The second group (n=14) consisted of persons with recurrent pain syndrome, resistant forms of CD and CPP, including after previously performed steroid injections: n=2 – neurolysis of GI with ethyl alcohol; n=2 – neurolysis of GI by phenol; n=3 – radio frequency modulation of GI; n=7 – radiofrequency ablation of GI.

Results. 14.0% of all study participants had post-traumatic CD (history of falling on the coccyx), the vast majority of 86.0% ‒ idiopathic CD. Pain intensity was significantly lower post-intervention compared to baseline VAS mean of 7.6±1.5 cm: 2.5±0.9 cm one-week post-procedure, 1.5±1.9 cm one month, 1.3±1.5 cm three months, 2.1±1.2 cm six months. The average score according to the Karnovsky Scale (KS) before and after the procedure was 73.3±6.3% and 83.9±4.9%, respectively.

Conclusions. Interventions on ganglion impar are an effective method of treating patients with coccygodynia of various etiology, which significantly reduce pain according to the VAS scale (p<0.001) and improve the quality of life according to the KS (p<0.001) in dynamics after 1, 3, 6 months. Minimally invasive interventions on ganglion impar make it possible to reduce tissue trauma, to quickly recover for patients after the procedure, and to minimize any complications. In the first and second groups of the study, there was a decrease in the pain on the VAS from 8.0 cm to 2.0 cm (p<0.0001) and from 7.0 cm to 2,7 cm (p<0.001) before and after the procedure, respectively. In the first and second groups of the study, there was an improvement in the indicator of functional status according to the KS from 70% (95% сonfidence interval (CI) 60‒90%) to 90% (95% CI 70‒100%, p<0.0001) and from 70% (95% CI 70‒90%) to 90% (95% CI 80‒100%, p=0.001) before and after the procedure, respectively.