My Chest Hurts: Late-onset Post-traumatic Intercostal Neuralgia

Post-traumatic intercostal neuralgia is underdiagnosed and rarely reported. Amongst the cases reported – acute damage to the thoracic wall and post-thoracotomy period remain the most common causes of intercostal neuralgia. We report a case of a young male who developed neuropathic intercostal chest pain 3 years after a history of trauma. Our case underlines the atypical presentation of delayed-onset intercostal neuralgia, successfully managed by a definite intercostal nerve block after a positive diagnostic block.