Chronic perineal pain related to sacral meningeal cysts

Chronic perineal pain is an often encountered problem that is difficult to evaluate. Based on a series of 17 patients in whom urological, gynecological, and anorectal pathology was excluded, the authors compared magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with computed tomographic (CT) scan with myelography in the investigation of chronic perineal pain. After a clinical neurological examination, patients underwent radiodiagnostic imaging of both techniques. Thirteen patients (76%) had one or more sacral meningeal cysts (MC) on MRI scan, whereas CT scan with myelography of the lumbar and sacral region revealed 7 patients (41%) with sacral MC. Sacral MC may be the etiology of chronic perineal pain in many instances, and MRI scan appears to be superior to CT scan with myelography in demonstrating sacral MC. Ten patients with sacral MC were operated on with moderate to excellent results 6 months after operation. Early postoperative results are encouraging, but further follow-up and larger series are required.