• S Massaron, S Bona, U Fumagalli, P Valente, and R Rosati.
• General and Minimally Invasive Surgery, Istituto Clinico Humanitas, Via Manzoni, 56, Rozzano, Milan 20089, Italy. simonetta.massaron@humanitas.it
• Hernia. 2008 Feb 1;12(1):57-63.

BackgroundAim of this study was to analyze long-term sequelae, risk factors, and satisfaction after inguinal hernia primary repair.MethodsA postal questionnaire was mailed to all patients operated between January 1997 and December 2004 for inguinal hernia repair. Patients who had a lump in the groin and patients who experienced chronic problems were invited for a physical examination. Patients who reported having chronic pain were asked to fill out the short-form McGill Pain Questionnaire (SF-MPQ).ResultsChronic pain was present in 18.1% of cases. The strongest risk factors were presence of recurrence, use of heavyweight mesh, and age younger than 66 years. By means of the SF-MPQ, we found that the pain reported by most patients was sensory-discriminative in quality, with "tender" and "aching" being the most common descriptors used. About 71.3% of replies used descriptors typical of nociceptive pain, 8.9% of neuropathic pain, and 19.8% of nociceptive plus neuropathic. Chronic pain was severe in 2.1% of patients and interfered with normal activities, work, and exercise. The cumulative recurrence rate was 2.1%. There was a strong correlation between lump and recurrence. Patients declared themselves satisfied with the result of the operation in 93.1% of cases. Due to chronic pain, 6.5% of patients were unsatisfied.ConclusionsThis study demonstrates that the main problem after inguinal hernia repair remains chronic pain, which was the primary reason of dissatisfaction. The SF-MPQ is feasible and easy to administer to all patients and provides important information about qualitative features of the pain.

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