Incidence of pain after inguinal hernia repair in the elderly. A retrospective historical cohort evaluation of 18-years’ experience with a mesh & plug inguinal hernia repair method on about 3000 patients

BACKGROUND Chronic pain after prosthetic inguinal hernioplasty is one of the most important current issues in the current literature debate. Mechanisms related to pain development are only partially known. Influence of age as well as other factors is still unclear. The aim of this work was to evaluate whether development of chronic pain after open prosthetic plug and mesh inguinal hernioplasty is influenced by age. METHODS Analysis was retrospectively conducted, dividing our cohort of patients (2,902) who had undergone prosthetic open plug&mesh inguinal hernioplasty from Jannuary 1994 to May 2012, following only the age criterion (cut-off 65 yrs.), into two groups (Gr.A<65 yrs, Gr.B>65 yrs.). All patients were routinely submitted to a postoperative questionnaire. Complications such as analgesic assumption were registered in both groups. Pain intensity was classified following the Visual Analogic Scale (VAS). Incidence of chronic pain, discomfort, and numbness, was assessed in both groups. Statistical significance was assessed by X₂-test. RESULTS Only 0.2% of patients suffered from a recurrence in our cohort. Postoperative chronic pain was observed in Gr. A in 0.12% of patients vs Gr.B 0.09% (p>0.05). Incidence of other postoperative symptoms such as discomfort or numbness were slightly prevalent on young patients (respectively p = 0.0286 and p = 0.01), while for hyperesthesia and sensation of foreign body no statistically significant difference of incidence between groups was observed. CONCLUSIONS Real chronic pain after inguinal hernioplasty is a rare clinical entity. Other causes of chronic pain should be accurately researched and excluded. In young patients psychological factors seem to show a slight influence. There was no influence of age on chronic postoperative pain incidence after inguinal hernioplasty.