INGUINAL HERNIOPLASTY

Abstract

Introduction: Chronic pain following inguinal hernia repair is becoming a significant clinical problem, involving increased numberof patients and surgeons. Much controversy exists regarding treatment. Elective division of the nerves has been proposed to reduce the riskof chronic post operative pain. O b j e c t i v e s : To evaluate the effectiveness of elective neurectomy during open hernia mesh repair, in reducingpostoperativ pain. Materials a n d m e t h o d s : Settings: All patients admitted in SUN department of surgery, Allied Hospital Faisalabad wereincluded in study. Study was started after the approval of synopsis on with inguinal hernia 2n d Feb, 2007 to Aug, 2007.100 patients of inguinalhernias were divided into 2 groups, 50 in each group i.e. group A & group B. The last patient was registered in the first week of July,convenience nonprobability sampling was used for location of patients in two groups. Results: On day one the pain was assessed in the twogroups i.e. Group A and group B (convenience non probability sampling technique used for patient grouping).It was found to be absent in 24/50(48 %) and 18/50 (36 %), mild in 10/50 (20 %) and 12/50 (24 %), it was moderate in10/50 (20 %) and 10/50 (20 %) and was severe in 6/50(12%) and 10/50 (20%) in the two groups respectively. One week after operation, in groups A and B, respectively, pain assessed with the useof the 4-point verbal scale was absent in 45 patients (90%) and 37 patients (74%), mild in 3/50 (6%) and 4/50 (8%), moderate in 2/50 (4%) and6/50 (12%), and severe in none and 3/50 (6%). Postoperative pain was not correlated with the presence of preoperative pain, and no correlationwas evidenced in the 2 subgroups. One month after operation, follow-up visits were performed in group A patients and group B patients. Inparticular, pain was absent in 46/50 (92%) patients in group A and 41/50 (82%) patients in group B. It was mild in 2 (6%) and 6/50 (12 %),moderate in 2/50 (4%) and 2/50 (4 %) none of the patients with elective neurectomy had pain at follow up of one month and 1 (2 %)one patientwithout elective neurectomy had pain. The numbness was assessed by checking sense of touch around the operated area. The difference foundbetween the 2 groups with respect to the presence of numbness was 15/50 (30 %) and 7/50 (14%) in the two groups i.e. group A and groupB respectively at day 1 and 12/50 (24%) and 7/50 (14%) at follow up of one week and it was 5/50 (10%) and 2/50(4%) at one month in the twogroups. C o n c l u s i o n s : When performing lichtenstein inguinal hernia repair, routine ilioinguinal, iliohypogastric and genital branch ofgenitofemoral nerves neurectomy is a reasonable option.