title: Anterior Cutaneous Nerve Entrapment Syndrome in Children.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this manuscript is to report on an entity known as Anterior Cutaneous Nerve Entrapment Syndrome (ACNES) and its relevance to chronic abdominal pain encountered in children.
  
  
  METHODS
  Following institutional review board approval, we retrospectively reviewed patients who underwent operation for presumed ACNES from 2011-2014. Variables reviewed included age, gender, age at surgery, time from onset of pain to surgery, additional medical treatments, and surgery performed. The main outcome measure was amelioration of pain.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Nine patients met the study criteria whereby 7 were female and 2 were male patients. Median age at time of surgery was 14 years (range: 10-19 years) and time from onset of symptoms to surgery was 10 months (range: 0.5-60 months). Eight reported complete resolution of the original symptoms in follow-up appointments. One patient reported new, yet similar symptoms on her opposite trunk.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  ACNES is a reported cause of chronic abdominal pain that can be managed surgically in the pediatric patient once medical management has been optimized. Close collaboration between surgeons and pain specialists helps identify patients who will benefit from surgical interventions and consideration of this condition could result in more timely pain relief in children. Further studies on a larger scale are needed to determine the long-term outcomes of this procedure.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Surgery, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA. Electronic address: Sigrid.bairdain@childrens.harvard.edu.
authors.forename: Sigrid
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bairdain
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesia, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Pradeep
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Dinakar
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Surgery, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: David P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Mooney
mesh_terms: D015746:Abdominal Pain / Q000209:etiology* / Q000601:surgery; D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D059350:Chronic Pain / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009408:Nerve Compression Syndromes / Q000150:complications* / Q000601:surgery; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Chronic abdominal pain; Nerve blocks