Patient-Reported Outcome Measures for Patients Undergoing Inguinal Hernia Repair

Abstract

There are many ways to determine the success of an inguinal hernia operation. Traditional measures are hernia recurrence, neuralgia, mesh infection, or rather the absence of these complications. While these traditional measures obviously have their merits, alternative outcomes are emerging, and researchers and clinicians are gaining an increasing interest in patient-reported outcomes and patient reported outcome measures (PROMs). PROMs are patient questionnaires concerning quality of life, chronic pain, disability, or other subjects that are best assessed by the patients. PROMs come in two different forms: generic and condition specific. The generic PROMs concern general symptoms and issues, while the condition-specific PROMs target patients with a certain condition. Inguinal hernia-specific PROMs typically address issues like mesh-related symptoms, groin pain, sexual dysfunction, etc. Clinical measurement instruments such as PROMs should be carefully validated according to standardized guidelines to ensure their psychometric measurement properties. Unfortunately, this type of evidence is often lacking when it comes to inguinal hernia-specific PROMs. In this review, we explain why PROMs are useful for patients with inguinal hernia and why one should use inguinal hernia-specific PROMs as opposed to the generic ones. We address the importance of population-specific validation and explain what type of evidence is lacking. Last, we discuss the future prospects of using PROMs for patients with inguinal hernia.

Assessment of feasibility and safety of cyanoacrylate glue versus absorbable tacks for inguinal hernia mesh fixation. A prospective comparative study.

“…Traditionally, studies have compared different repair techniques in the light of surgical complications such as wound infection, chronic pain and recurrence, but it is now accepted and recommended that functional outcomes, patient satisfaction and quality of life are considered when adopting new approaches [ 33 , 34 ]. Herein we used the previously reported PROMs [ 17 ], which are split into five main questions with regards to pain, mobility, self-care at home, daily activities and satisfaction.…”

Inguinal Hernia Mesh Repair: The Factors to Consider When Deciding Between Open Versus Laparoscopic Repair

“…They include tension-free mesh repair via the open inguinal hernia repair (OIHR) and the laparoscopic inguinal hernia repair (LIHR) [ 3 , 14 ]. The success of an inguinal hernia repair depends on several factors such as hernia recurrence, infection rate, neuralgia, and the rate of complications [ 15 ].…”

Evaluation of the Farsi‐translated Hemorrhoidal Disease Symptom Score and Short Health Scale questionnaires in patients with hemorrhoid disease: A cross‐sectional study

“…14 PROMs are patient-completed questionnaires that demonstrate the outcome or severity of symptoms from the patient's perspective. 11 Several questionnaires have been designed to assess the severity of hemorrhoids. According to a systematic review conducted in 2020 among five proposed hemorrhoid symptomspecific questionnaires, the questionnaire created by Rørvik and colleagues had acceptable standards according to the consensusbased standards for selecting health measurement instruments (COSMIN) criteria.…”