Abdominal cutaneous nerve entrapment syndrome (ACNES) in a patient with a pain syndrome previously assumed to be of psychiatric origin.
A 21-year-old female patient with chronic abdominal pain was referred to a psychiatric outpatient clinic after gastroenterological and gynaecological pathogeneses had been excluded and a treatment with an antidepressant had had no beneficial effects. The mental state examination, however, revealed no psychopathology whatsoever. The patient was injected with a local anaesthetic loco dolenti which resulted in immediate pain relief. She was diagnosed with abdominal cutaneous nerve entrapment syndrome (ACNES); no psychiatric diagnosis was given.
Thome
Johannes
J
Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of Wales Swansea, Swansea, UK. j.thome@swan.ac.uk
Egeler
Christian
C