Sural Nerve Excision - 2 years post surgery paresthesia

Question

Hello: 

I have been dealing with an ongoing unique issue involving the Sural nerve in my left foot for the past two years now.   I appologize for the long question, however, it's important provide some history.  To provide a brief recap of what has occured, my Sural nerve above the ankle was intentionally cut and buried in the muscle based on a determination by the Dr. that I may have a trapped nerve below my left heal which was causing me continued pain.   I was advised the Sural nerve was used in biopsies on a regular basis and this was a common procedure that would leave me with numbness in a part of the foot, but no loss of motor function as this was simply as sensory nerve.   The surgery was completed in Feb. 2009 and I developed horrific electrical shock sensations for after the procecedure and which lasted for months after the surgery.  In June of 2009, at my request, the Dr. went back into the area to check and make certain the nerve was completely buried and was not sprouting.  All was fine.  

The paresthesia continued after that second surgery and for the next year, continued to deal with these sensations.   In March, 2010, I sought treatment from another surgeon who recommended cutting the nerve higher just to make certain the nerve ending was not firing off any further.  That surgery did not result in any change for me on these crazy sensations.     I continued treatment with a Physical Medicine Dr. who performed a number of nerve block injections to see if that may help to "reboot" the system and prevent these paresthesia sensations from occurring.  That did not produce any positive results.  

As a last resort, I was referred to a Pain Management Dr. who implanted a nerve stimulator in both the back and on the sural neve itself to see if this would help make a difference.  After a two-week trial for both procedures, it was removed as it did not produce an positive results.   Again, that resulted in another two surgeries to put in the trail stimulator.  

After a multitude of surgeries and nearly two years after the initial procedure, I'm still left with a tingling, burning and bothersome nerve sensation in an area where there is no nerve and where it was cut and buried.  I'm at a loss on where to turn to and what else can be done.  I'm dealing with the numbness and that fact I will have this for the rest of my life, I am now just looking for a way to decrease and/or eliminate the nerve sensations that continue to occur below the ankle. 

Any and all help would be appreciated. 

Thanks!

Trayathome · Answer

I have the same issues after a aural nerve biopsy in Sept. 2016. In the end of Nov 2016 I fractured my lower Tibia badly and couldn't walk/bare weight on it for eight weeks then after wearing a boot cast for another 6 weeks and recovery the end of Feb 2017 I had surgery for Sural nerve entrapment. The doctor removed approximately 3" of the nerve, I also had a large mass in the nerve area along w/inflammation. I am still in a tremendous amount of pain. The area where he removed the nerve has of coarse improved but my lower ankle, and foot area hasn't changed. It's horrible, I want to know if they can just remove the whole nerve, I can't take this every day. My quality of life has diminished.

tammybeau · Answer

I just had a neurectomy of the sural and the saphenous nerves for the same kind of burning, tingling, and stabbing pain. The surgery had eliminated 95% of the issue with just minimal residual and intermittent tingling and burning. Overall, it is so much better than it was. I had a nerve conduction velocity study done prior to the surgery to confirm the nerves that were involved. Maybe in your case it wasn't the sural, but maybe the tibial nerve or its branches?

TBW201 · Answer

Wow....my son has had similar problem since 2008. He had debridement surgery for an osteochondral lesion of the talus and did fine for a year. Then they did a ligament tightening in 2008 and he has had pain since. Tried the nerve blocks, various medications, PT, etc. No luck. Original doctor no help. Have seen a new orthopedic guy who thinks that scar tissue might be impinging the sural nerve, or there could have been actual damage. However, he says it is out of his realm of expertise, so we are now looking for someone to treat this. Your experience is not encouraging. Who/where did you have surgery? Would be interested to hear from others who might have had different results...certainly do not want to worsen the condition. Best of luck to you.