A National Center for Persistent Severe Pain After Groin Hernia Repair: Five-year Prospective Data

Severe persistent pain after groin hernia repair (SPG) causes psychophysical disability and impairs quality-of-life for a considerable number of individuals each year.1-3 In the United States, 600,000 groin hernia repairs (GHR) are performed annually, and a conservative estimate is that 2%, corresponding to 12,000 individuals, each year will develop this debilitating pain condition.4 The management of SPG remains a daunting challenge to the medical profession 5, often requiring multidisciplinary efforts.1,6 Several surgical procedures have indicated substantial pain-relieving effects in SPG1,7 however few well-powered, controlled studies have been presented.8,9 In pharmacological and neuromodulation procedures, most studies are still case-based or uncontrolled.

In 2010, the authors established a dedicated tertiary center for SPG-patients open for referral on a nationwide basis. The objectives were, first, to analyze the pathophysiological mechanism behind the pain, second, to implement optimal medical and surgical pain management and third, to perform clinical SPG-research projects. Standardized clinical and neurophysiological tests guided the management paradigm for each patient. Treatment outcomes were evaluated prospectively using baseline questionnaires (Q0) and a 5-year questionnaire (Q5Y) mailed at the end of 2014 to all patients referred to the center.

The focus of the present study is first, to present clinical, neurophysiological and psychometric data on SPG-patients at referral, and second, to evaluate and compare efficacies of exploratory surgical and non-surgical treatment, based on a consecutive follow-up cohort of 222 patients.