Pain management for patients with meralgia paresthetica: a case report

Abstract

A 65-year-old woman underwent hernioplasty for an abdominal wall hernia by general anesthesia accompanied with epidural anesthesia. A few hours after removal of the epidural catheter, she complained of wound pain. We immediately started epidural anesthesia, and incisional pain became well controlled. We removed the catheter on postoperative day 9, but severe pain in the region of the right lateral femoral cutaneous nerve appeared. Concerning surgical procedures and the pain character of symptoms, we diagnosed meralgia paresthetica. We tried a lateral femoral cutaneous nerve block, and the symptoms improved dramatically. This confirmed the diagnosis. We repeated the nerve block twice a week, and pain intensity decreased day by day.