Bilateral Transcutaneous Posterior Tibial Nerve Stimulation for Functional Anorectal Pain

Background: Reports indicate that percutaneous posterior tibial nerve stimulation improve pain symptoms of the patients with chronic pelvic pain. Objective: The aim of this study is to assess the efficacy of bilateral transcutaneous posterior tibial nerve stimulation (PTNS) for functional anorectal pain. Design: Prospective study. Single-group pilot study. Patients: 10 patients with functional anorectal pain were enrolled in this study. Settings/Interventions: All patients received 30 minutes of stimulation twice per week for 6 weeks. Patients were evaluated by history, physical, the visual analogue scale (VAS) for pain and frequency of pain as Rome III criteria. Main Outcome Measures: VAS for pain and frequency of pain were measured. Results: 9 patients completed the treatment. Mean VAS for pain significant decreased from 5.7 to 1.5 (P<0.01). 77.8% of patients had a improvement of >50% in the VAS for pain. Mean days of pain per a month significant decreased from 21.2 to 8.9 (p=0.03). Limitations: This study was limited by its small size and its lack of blinding and control. Conclusions: Our finding suggest that bilateral PTNS may improve pain symptoms for patients with functional anorectal pain. Long-term follow-up studies are needed to verify these preliminary results.