Superior Hypogastric Plexus Block

A superior hypogastric plexus block is a type of injection that is used to control pelvic pain that does not respond to oral medications. This block can also be indicated if the side effects for a pain relieving medication (excessive nausea, constipation, and sedation) are unacceptable to the patient. Since the superior hypogastric plexus contains efferent sympathetic fibers to and afferent pain fibers from the bladder, urethra, uterus, vagina, vulva, perineum, prostate, penis, testes, rectum, and descending colon, this block can potentially alleviate pain originating from the above mentioned regions. The most recent literature highlights that the superior hypogastric plexus block has been used successfully to treat both malignancy-associated anal-rectal pain18 and nonmalignant penile pain14, which further adds evidence for the applications of this block.