Introduction:

Post-saphenectomy neuralgia of the internal saphenous nerve is the natural expression of a peripheral truncal nerve injury and constitutes a frequent clinical syndrome; however, it is rarely studied, from all points of view.

Objective:

To assess neuralgia of the internal saphenous nerve in patients operated on for essential varicose veins of the lower limbs.

Method:

A descriptive-retrospective study was carried out in 60 surgically intervened patients (stripping or phlebo-extraction) in the angiology and vascular surgery service of Freyre de Andrade Clinical-Surgical Teaching Hospital for a diagnosis of essential varicose veins of the lower limbs and manifestation of neuralgia of the internal saphenous nerve. The study was carried out from January to December 2017. The variables studied were sex, location of the saphenectomy (left, right, or bilateral), and manifestation of neuralgia in the internal saphenous nerve. We worked with absolute and relative frequency values.

Results:

40% of the saphenectomies were bilateral, 31.6% were performed in the lower right limb, and 28.3% corresponded to the lower left limb. 80% were women (left side: 25%, right side: 25%, and bilateral: 50%) and 20% were men (right side: 58.3%, and left side: 41.7%). Patients with neuralgia of the internal saphenous never accounted for 23.3% (41.7% were men and 18.8% were women).

Conclusion:

The correct identification of neuralgia of the internal saphenous nerve allows to exclude other vascular complications and to establish prophylactic measures to avoid it.

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