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What is neurolysis?
I have found a surgeon who use neurolysis as part of an inguinal hernia repair with open surgery technique. I am not familiar with this term. What does it mean?
I understand that neurectomy is dissection of a nerve. And from what I understand, neurolysis is similar, but the nerve is only partially damaged. And this is only temporary?
According to Wikipedia:
“Neurolysis is the application of physical or chemical agents to a nerve in order to cause a temporary degeneration of targeted nerve fibers. When the nerve fibers degenerate, it causes an interruption in the transmission of nerve signals. In the medical field, this is most commonly and advantageously used to alleviate pain in cancer patients.”
“Neurolysis is a chemical ablation technique that is used to alleviate pain. Neurolysis is only used when the disease has progressed to a point where no other pain treatments are effective. A neurolytic agent such as alcohol, phenol, or glycerol is typically injected into the nervous system. Chemical neurolysis causes deconstructive fibrosis which then disrupts the sympathetic ganglia. This results in a reduction of pain signals being transmitted throughout the nerves. The effects generally last for three to six months.”
What happens after six months? Do the nerve fibers grow back? Does it result in more pain? Is neurolysis better than neurectomy?
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2 Replies
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[USER=”2662″]John Fortem[/USER] In general, we recommend no manipulation of the nerves at all during hernia surgery, unless there is an obvious entrapment or scarring or involvement with the hernia.
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Neurolysis can be what you stated above or it is the releasing of a nerve that is entrapped. Say if a surgeon is removing mesh and while doing so a nerve is entrapped in the mesh by scar tissue then the surgeon can perform neurolysis to release it. Most surgeons will not just perform neurolysis while dealing with post op hernia surgery pain, they will not take the chance of just performing neurolysis because even if the nerve looks undamaged they cannot see the microscopic damage done so they do not take the chance of just releasing the nerve so they perform a neurectomy instead and bury the nerve end in undamaged tissue.
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