What is spermatic neuralgia?
Neuralgia describes an attack-like, shooting pain in the area of a single nerve. The term “spermaticus” in this case refers to the male spermatic cord, which is referred to in specialist circles as the “Fasciculus spermaticus”. In this spermatic cord runs a nerve, the nervus genitofemoralis.
This nerve is responsible for skin sensations in the groin region and on the scrotum. Damage or irritation of this nerve is responsible for the symptoms of spermatic neuralgia, which is why the more correct term would actually be “genitofemoralis neuralgia”. In accordance with the previous considerations, the term spermatic neuralgia thus describes seizure-like pain in the groin and scrotum. Women are also not immune to spermatic neuralgia because, although they do not have a spermatic cord, they do have a genitofemoral nerve. They have pain in the groin and the labia majora.
Causes
In principle, any type of damage to the genitofemoral nerve can lead to spermatic neuralgia. Accordingly, in rare cases, inflammatory nervous disorders such as Guillain-Barré syndrome can also manifest themselves in the form of spermatic neuralgia. More frequently, however, tumors or abscesses (encapsulated accumulation of pus) attack the nerve.
In addition, the nerve can also be injured during operations on inguinal hernias. In this case one speaks of iatrogenic spermatic neuralgia (caused by the doctor). Often, however, no clear cause for the disease can be identified, which makes therapy considerably more difficult.
Diagnosis
The diagnosis of spermatic neuralgia is made by the doctor on the basis of the patient’s description. There is currently no specific method for examining the genitofemoral nerve, but this is usually not necessary due to the fairly clear symptoms of the disease. Nevertheless, the diagnosis of spermatic neuralgia should entail instrumental examinations, the primary aim of which is to detect an abscess or tumor as a possible cause. For this purpose, an ultrasound examination and, if necessary, additional imaging procedures such as computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are suitable. You can find detailed information on this topic at Ultrasound of the testis
