The symptomatic treatment of Civinini-Morton syndrome (interdigital
neuritis: IDN) may be performed directly on the nervous trunk involved using orthotic, local pharmacological or surgical methods. Alcoholization with
phenol in the percutaneous treatment of IDN has the purpose of provoking a permanent
chemical neurolysis, obtaining remission of the neuritic
pain symptoms. A total of 71 cases were treated by a dorsal approach to the intermetatarsal space using a needle-
electrode connected to the electro-stimulator. Once the nervous trunk with a reproduction of the
paresthesia to the fingers was localized, 2.5 ml of
phenol at 5% water
solution was injected, immediately followed by
local anesthetic with a postsurgical
analgesic purpose. Mean follow-up was 36 +/- 8 months. The patients were evaluated by visual analogue scale for
pain (VAS). Alcoholization of the common interdigital nerve proved to be effective in treating
pain in 80.3% of cases (57/71). Treatment must be considered a percutaneous mini-invasive
surgical procedure. The results are better than those reported in the literature with conservative and infiltrative treatment and they appear to be comparable today with those obtained when surgical treatment was used, with no complications occurring.