Patient Satisfaction After Inguinal Hernia Surgery: Literature Review of an Overlooked Patient-Reported Outcome Measure.

INTRODUCTION: Patient satisfaction after inguinal hernia surgery is currently underappreciated and not as well studied as other patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) on this topic. This study aims to review the literature and summarize available data. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A literature review was conducted using Medline with focus on patient-reported satisfaction after elective, inguinal hernia surgery in adults. All inguinal hernia repair techniques were considered. Small sample sizes and short follow-up periods were excluded. The methodology and results of the remaining articles were reviewed. Due to heterogeneity of reporting between articles, only a descriptive analysis was performed. RESULTS: The available data from patient-reported outcome measures regarding satisfaction yields considerable heterogeneity and lacks validation. We found that 53% of all included studies used an asymmetrical response questionnaire. Although there is an overwhelming positive patient satisfaction, wide ranges of satisfaction were seen (78-100% more than averagely satisfied, compared to 0-15% less than averagely satisfied). The number of patients not willing to undergo inguinal hernia repair again ranges from 1-16%. CONCLUSION: Our study demonstrates that patient-reported satisfaction after inguinal hernia surgery is not uniformly surveyed and remains unvalidated. Further research on patient-reported satisfaction would benefit from the reported raw data of a standardised, validated, and symmetrical five-point Likert or 11-point NRS scale on regular intervals pre- and postoperatively.