Groin and thigh pain following radical prostatectomy

Laparoscopic surgery is keyhole surgery Mark which wasn't successful with me but if they can stitch the hole open( peritoneal window) by keyhole then all well and good. My urologist had never come across my lymphocele problem before so it took for ever to get him to do anything, if only it had been done at the start, i would not have had to endure three years of pain. Please keep me informed of your progress,

I keep my fingers crossed that it works for me. They drained about 100 ml/day for almost a week before it started going down to zero.

I won't even ask about how does an "always open" hole works

I have often wondered if urology consultants share notes etc between different hospitals. How helpful it would be to all concerned if yours were to contact mine and discuss the procedure that finally sorted me out, as I was a bit of a mistery to mine, said he had never come across it before, and he does 120 radical prostatectomy's a year. But what he finaly did, worked.

You're absolutely right. I live in Switzerland, and my first doctor who did the RP and who advised me only to do lymphatic massage for my lymphocele (worst advice ever) doesn't talk to his colleague who's a doctor in the same hospital, who drained my lymphatic liquid and told me massage is the worst thing.

Disaster!

John. I f eel for you, thinking back to those days the pain was horrendous. Your pain sounds exactly as what I went through and it took forever to get my consultant to accept that it was the lymphocele that was causing the problem. It was a spinal consultant that did the MRI and noticed it, my urology consultant had never come across it before but did eventually carry out the procedure that has put me back to full fitness, I am even running in this Septembers Great North Run (Half marathon) for Prostate Cancer UK. Why don't you see your G.P and tell him my success story and for your consultant to have a word with mine- Mr Chadwick at James Cook Teaching Hospital Middlesbrough..

I've been going through this pain now for 18 months. Now, my tailbone is starting to hurt. Sitting is painful. Urologist has no idea why. He thinks is nerve regeneration.

Bone man, on your next appointment, print this off and show it to your Urologist , trying to convince some consultants can be difficult, but its no coincidence this complication is being discussed by many people after a radial prostectomy

Jim i have an appointment with your consultant Mr Chadwick, iv sent you a private message, thanks

As previously mentioned, i had a lymphocele that caused me much pain in my hip after being on my feet 30 minutes or so. The pain would go away when i sat down.

It took the better part of 3 years to figure out the lymphocele was the problem and get rid of it. I am now totally pain free in that area.

HI Mark,

im 3.5 with the lymph pain issue after prostectomy , iv had no joy in convincing my consultant its a result of the surgery . Ihave an appointment to see one who has hostory with sorting this issue out, hopefully he can point me in the right direction . What procedure finally got to the bottom of your issue?

sorry it should say 3.5 years ,

In the beginning I was so convinced that it was a hip issue, I was seeing my orthopedic doctors about it (hip and back). They couldn't figure it out so one day I just mentioned my situation to my urologist and he thought it might be the lymphocele which we could not get to go away. We rechecked the MRI I had done of the pelvis and the report said it was indeed pressing against a nerve which was connected to my hip.

When the lymphocele was finally treated by another urologist (by injecting alchohol into it...I forgot what the proceedure is called but I can find it out for you if need be) the pain was gone immediately.

The MRI told the story.

Sounds intresting , yes let me know the name of the procedure , and il investigate it as an alternative to surgery ., So the pain has gone for you, how long ago was your procedure ? Can you do excercise etc without any pain at all , also how long can you stay on your feet , all day without issues?

The method that was used to finally get rid of my lymphocele is called sclerotherapy

which involves injecting fluids that cause it to change and then drain the fluids. We tried the more simple method of just draining it several times with no luck. It is all done in radiology with a local anesthetic. My doctor told me surgery for the lymphocele was not an option. We had to do the procedure 2 times and I ended up with an infection. In the end, it was all very worthwhile to rid myself of the lymphocele because I am 100 percent back to where I was physically before the radical prostetectomy.

A test to see if the lymphocele is the cause of your pain would be to simply have it drained and then walk around to see if your symptoms come back. After treating mine, I was able to tell immediately by walking around for 20 minutes that it was definately the cause of my pain.

Having to treat a lymphocele by means other than simple drainage is something that is somewhat rare apparently that many doctors are not up to date on. I would certainly try the method that finally worked for me before surgery. The pain this thing was causing me was very intense and I felt like I was basically crippled for 2 years.

Mark. That certainly sounds a more simple and painless method of getting rid of your lymphocele, it was a method never mentioned to me but having the full open surgery again to stitch open a drain hole for my lymphocele to disappear worked, no more oramorph to kill the horrendous pain. Now four years later at age 74 i am running 10K three times a week.