Coccygodynia and Coccygectomy

OBJECTIVE A review of the literature on coccygectomy and our patients was performed to assess the effectiveness of coccygectomy for chronic refractory coccygodynia. METHODS An English language PubMed search was conducted with the terms "coccygodynia" and "coccygectomy" from January 1980 to January 2012. We retrospectively reviewed the medical records and performed telephone questionnaire on 61 patients who underwent coccygectomy at UCDMC between 1997 and 2009. RESULTS There were 28 case series from 1980 to 2012 for a total of 742 patients who underwent coccygectomy following failed conservative management. The mean age ranged from 26.4 to 52.8 years. The most common cause was direct trauma (58.5%) with a male:female ratio of 1:5.2. Most patients (84%) had a good to excellent outcome after coccygectomy. The most common complication is wound infection (10.0%). The overall complication rate was 13.3%. Similarly, 84.6% of patients from our own surgical case series reported good to excellent outcomes with 11.5% wound infection. CONCLUSION Coccygectomy is an effective treatment for chronic refractory coccygodynia. The surgery isrelatively simple to perform but precaution must be taken to avoid wound infection.