The measurement of chronic pain and health-related quality of life following inguinal hernia repair: a review of the literature

Abstract

Twenty-three studies were identified. The majority of studies used the visual analogue scale (VAS) for pain measurement and the Medical Outcomes Study Short-Form 36 (SF-36) for the measurement of HRQL. A reasonably consistent picture emerged from the literature, with the HRQL domains most often affected by pain (social functioning/mental health). Estimates of the prevalence of chronic pain and discomfort following IHR vary widely between studies. This is probably a reflection of the range of methods used for measuring pain, many of which do not have established psychometric properties. Our review suggests that a proportion of patients experience chronic pain and discomfort, which has a significant impact on HRQL. However, the current instruments used in the evaluation of chronic pain after IHR are not comparable and standardisation is required.

İnguinal herninin günübirlik cerrahisi: Cerrahi asistanları tarafından lokal anestezi altında gerçekleştirilen Lichtenstein inguinal herni onarımı

“…In this study, as a patient-reported outcome, the pain lasting more than 6 months was accepted as chronic postoperative pain which were seen in 11(7.3%) and four (2.7%) patients after 6 months and one year, respectively. Our rates were also comparable to the other studies that chronic postoperative pain was reported to occur in between 10-30% of the patients [2,9,22]. We thought that chronic postoperative pain was mild in nature, since over 90% of the patients were very satisfied in general, and the maximum pain score was up to 3 and 4.…”

“…Definition of chronic pain relies on its chronicity lasting usually more than 3 months; however, there are several reports with different definitions of chronic pain indicating difficulty in classification, grading and measurement [1,2,10,21]. Patient-reported outcomes such as pain were believed to be an important index for improving outcomes in hernia surgery [8].…”

“…Inguinal hernia repair is one of the most commonly performed operations in general surgery [1][2][3][4][5]. After introduction of mesh for inguinal hernia repair, recurrences have been decreased to 5% or less [4].…”

“…Local anesthesia is reported as a safe method especially for the patients with high anesthetic risk (general or spinal) [2,5]. Inguinal hernia repair is common operation performed mostly in early period of surgical residency under supervision by attending consultants; however results of operations performed by surgical residents are not evaluated in detail [9].…”

International guidelines for prevention and management of post-operative chronic pain following inguinal hernia surgery

“…More recently, several questionnaires and validated score systems have been presented, concluding that pain should be assessed at rest as well as during well-defined functions corresponding to daily life tasks, including questions about pain influencing sexual function like dysejaculation [26,31,43,58,61].…”