A patient who would be a good candidate for peripheral nerve surgery has:

• Pain in a specific area for more than three months that has not been relieved by other methods like physical therapy or medications.
• Ongoing pain after a prior surgery, like: knee replacement, hip replacement, abdominal surgery, amputation, mastectomy, chest surgery, or a leg, ankle or foot operation. 
• A prior workup by other specialists such as orthopaedic surgeons, physical medicine doctors, pain specialists, or neurologists without discovering an obvious cause for the pain.
• Prior tests like EMG/NCV, diagnostic nerve blocks, and 3T MRIs to help confirm chronic pain.

To schedule a consultation to discuss whether you are a candidate for peripheral nerve surgery, call 734-936-7010.

Our surgeons often find that relieving pressure on a specific nerve or dividing the nerve above the site of an injury can decrease or even eliminate a patient’s chronic pain. Dividing the nerve can result in a limited area of numbness in the skin, but that is often a welcome trade-off for the pain. Typically, these operations can be done through small incisions in an outpatient operation. 

Peripheral neuropathy’s contribution to chronic pain is not well-known, and diagnosing it can be difficult. Before pursuing peripheral nerve surgery, patients must go through thorough examinations and diagnostic tests to ensure they’re good candidates for the procedure.

Regenerative Peripheral Nerve Interface (RPNI) and Dermatosensory Peripheral Nerve Interface (DSPNI) are other options to prevent pain recurrence. 

When the ends of the injured nerves are removed surgically, there is the chance for recurrence of the pain. Several strategies are used to prevent this. One of them, which we use in almost all cases, is RPNI or DSPNI treatment of the nerve ends. The process is simple. The ends of the nerves are wrapped with small pieces of muscle or skin grafts taken from nearby tissues. The goal is to give the new ends of the nerves something to grow into, thereby preventing the recurrence of nerve pain. This novel technique was developed at the University of Michigan Section of Plastic Surgery, and is being taught to surgeons around the world. We have successfully used these techniques in treating nerve pain and phantom pain due to amputations, surgery and injury all over the body.