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Updated: Jun 12, 2026

Demonstration of Cutaneous Allodynia in Association with Chronic Pelvic Pain
Published on: June 23, 2009
An unusual case of chronic anal pain--a pin in the bum?
Adam Charles Critchley1, Stephen John Holtham
1Department of General Surgery, Wansbeck General Hospital, Ashington, Northumberland, UK. adamcritchley@doctors.net.uk
Abstract:
We report the case of a 70-year-old woman who had previously undergone anterior resection in 2001 for a diverticular stricture. Bleeding from pelvic veins intra-operatively necessitated the use of two thumbtacks to aid haemostasis. Over the next 7 years, she presented repeatedly with anal pain, bleeding and mucus discharge per rectum. Multiple lower gastrointestinal endoscopies failed to make a definitive diagnosis until a single thumbtack was found eroding through the rectal mucosa. This was removed and she has been subsequently asymptomatic. This condition was clearly difficult to diagnose and requires a high index of suspicion in those patients who have previously undergone pelvic surgery.
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