A patient with external hemorrhoids develops pain while passing stools. The nerve mediating this pain is -: (A) Hypogastric nerve, (B) Pudendal nerve, (C) Splachnic visceral nerve, (D) Sympathetic plexus
Answer is B. External piles (hemorrhoids) lie below the pectinate line and are therefore painful.
Pain sensation below the pectinate line is carried by inferior rectal nerve, a branch of the pudendal nerve.