The position of the abdominal cutaneous nerves is shown      

                 

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What is it?

A group of nerves come out on either side of the belly button to supply the skin of the abdomen. Sometimes they get stuck in the tight white sheath surrounding the rectus muscle. This can lead to severe chronic pain that is very difficult to diagnose. 

What happens once a DIAGNOSIS is made

Mr Tadros is the first person in the UK to carry out ACNES release. The procedure involves releasing the nerves around the sheath which surrounds the rectus muscle. The success of the procedure has been very encouraging. The results have been announced in several international meetings. The new procedure innovated by Mr Tadros has also been formally accepted as a specific operation by the Royal College of Surgeons.

How is it diagnosed

Because of its relatively unknown and the fact that very few centres in the world carry out this surgery, most patients and physicians make the diagnosis after a process of elimination. Often patients have exhausted multiple investigations ranging from scans to invasive procedures such as key hole surgery before a diagnosis of ACNES is made usually in 

Will it work for me?

Usually a good test would be successful relief of pain by injection of local anaesthetic into the nerve. If this completely relieves the symptoms, then it's likely that your symptoms will either be fully resolved or at least partially resolved. As this is still a relatively new procedure the long term results are still being evaluated however 5 year rates of symptom resolution are around 90%.

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​The painful nerves are identified prior to surgery

The nerves are then released