Posttraumatic coccygeal instability.

Abstract

To report the middle term results of partial coccygectomy in a consecutive series of 15 patients with chronic coccygodynia. Fifteen patients with chronic coccygodynia were referred to our outpatient clinics. The patients were investigated with dynamic lateral radiography and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). We diagnosed a posttraumatic coccygodynia with instability of the coccygeal segment and performed a partial coccygectomy after failure of the conservative treatment. All patients underwent subjective and objective assessment after a mean time of 2.8 years from surgery. There were 11 excellent, 3 good, and 1 fair results. The mean time of improvement was 15 weeks, and no further improvement was observed after 6 months. Partial coccygectomy is a good therapeutic option for posttraumatic coccygodynia. Dynamic radiography is a useful tool to differentiate posttraumatic from idiopathic coccygodynia. MRI may be useful for further evaluation of the patients after inconclusive dynamic radiography.