Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Case Reports
. 2015 Oct-Dec;7(4):541-3.
doi: 10.4103/0974-7796.164862.

Glans ischemia after circumcision and dorsal penile nerve block: Case report and review of the literature

Pablo Garrido-Abad  1 , Carlos Suárez-Fonseca  1
Affiliations
Case Reports

Glans ischemia after circumcision and dorsal penile nerve block: Case report and review of the literature

Pablo Garrido-Abad et al. Urol Ann. 2015 Oct-Dec.

Abstract

Circumcision is an easy commonly performed surgical procedure in childhood. However, it is not free of a low number of complications, (1-5-5%). Here we report a case of a 3-year-old boy with glans superficial necrosis after circumcision, managed with topical (nitroglycerin, gentamicin), oral (pentoxifylline) and epidural (urgent caudal block with bupivacaine) treatment. A review of the literature and the different treatments reported by other authors was done. After 7 days of treatment, local signs of ischemia and severe pain disappeared, without adverse events related to treatment. Although the ischemia or necrosis of the glans after circumcision are rare, we may suspect them in case of presence of severe acute pain or dark color. We report the successful management of this complication.

Keywords: Circumcision; glans; necrosis; nerve block.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: None.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Initial image of patient penis with important edema and ischemic glans signs
Figure 2
Figure 2
Image of patient penis 48 h after initiation of the treatment
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Elemen L, Topçu K, Gürcan Nİ, Akay A. Successful treatment of post circumcision glanular ischemia-necrosis with hyperbaric oxygen and intravenous pentoxifylline. Actas Urol Esp. 2012;36:200–1. - PubMed
    1. Bateman DV. Correspondence. Anaesthesia. 1975;30:101.
    1. Soh CR, Ng SB, Lim SL. Dorsal penile nerve block. Paediatr Anaesth. 2003;13:329–33. - PubMed
    1. Kaplanian S, Chambers NA, Forsyth I. Caudal anaesthesia as a treatment for penile ischaemia following circumcision. Anaesthesia. 2007;62:741–3. - PubMed
    1. Sara CA, Lowry CJ. A complication of circumcision and dorsal nerve block of the penis. Anaesth Intensive Care. 1985;13:79–82. - PubMed

Publication types