Pudendal anesthesia

Pudendal anesthesia (pudendal nerve block, pudendal block or saddle block) is a form of local anesthesia. Pudendal anesthesia can be used to diagnose as well as treat illnesses. A nerve block is the use of local anesthetic (e.g lidocaine) to inhibit the sensation of pain caused by one or multiple nerves. A nerve block can help doctors confirm what nerve is causing the pain to support a diagnosis. A nerve block can also be used to prevent pain before a procedure, or relieve chronic pain. The pudendal block gets its name because a local anesthetic, such as lidocaine or chloroprocaine, is injected into the pudendal canal where the pudendal nerve is located. The pudendal nerve branches off of the sacral plexus and is both a sensory and motor nerve. The pudendal nerve provides sensation information (i.e. innervates) for the anal canal, external anal sphincter, and the perineum. Pudendal nerve blocks can be used to provide pain relief to this region for about 30 days, but has been reported to last months in some patients. It is primarily used to provide analgesia during obstetrics procedures such as forceps delivery. It can also be used during anorectal surgery, urologic surgery, diagnosing or treating chronic perineal pain (i.e. pudendal neuralgia), and other gynecologic procedures