Surgical management of chronic inguinal pain syndromes - Liespijn

did not contain sequential ratings making a test-retest reliability analysis impossible.Previous studies showed that rapid repeated VAS assessments frequently result indifferent ratings as opposed to the more consistent VRS 21,22 . In follow up pain intensitymeasurements the VRS is also preferable over the VAS.In conclusion, a higher scale failure was present using the Visual Analogue Scalecompared to the Verbal Rating Scale in a large cohort of patients following correctivegroin hernia surgery. The VAS can be categorized in VRS scores using more optimizedcut-off points (70 mm = severe pain) compared to those used in previous groin pain research. VASscores are not interchangeable with VRS scores due to considerable overlap. The VRSshould therefore be favoured over the VAS in future postherniorrhaphy pain assessment.REFERENCES1 Melzack R. The McGill Pain Questionnaire: major properties and scoring methods. Pain 1975;1: 277-2992 Daut RL, Cleeland CS, Flanery RC. Development of the Wisconsin Brief Pain questionnaire toassess pain in cancer and other diseases. Pain 1983; 17: 197-2103 Briggs M, Closs JS, Phil M. A descriptive study of the use of visual analogue scales and verbalrating scales for the assessment of postoperative pain in orthopaedic patients. J Pain SymptMan 1999; 18: 438-4464 Herr KA, Spratt K, Mobily PR, Richardson G. Pain intensity assessment in older adults. Use ofexperimental pain to compare psychometric properties and usability of selected pain scaleswith younger adults. Clin J Pain 2004; 20: 207-2195 Page B, Paterson D, Young D, O’Dwyer PJ. Pain from primary inguinal hernia and the effect ofrepair on pain. Br J Surg 2002; 89: 1315-13186 Nienhuijs SW, Boelens O, Strobbe LJA. Pain after anterior hernia repair. J Am Coll Surg 2005;200: 885-8897 Loos MJA, Roumen RMH, Scheltinga MRM. Chronic sequelae of common elective groin herniarepair. Hernia 2007; 11: 169-1738 Cunningham J, Temple WJ, Mitchell P, Nixon JA, Preshaw RM, Hagen NA. Cooperative herniastudy: pain in the postrepair patient. Ann Surg 1996; 224: 598-6029 Callesen T, Bech K, Kehlet H. Prospective study of chronic pain after groin hernia repair. Br J Surg1999; 86: 1528-153110 Bay-Nielsen M, Perkins FM, Kehlet H. Pain and functional impairment 1 year after inguinalherniorraphy: a nationwide questionnaire study. Ann Surg 2001; 233: 1-711 Poobalan AS, Bruce J, King PM, Chambers WA, Krukowski ZH, Smith WC. Chronic pain and qualityof life following open inguinal hernia repair. Br J Surg 2001; 88: 1122-112612 Courtney CA, Duffy K, Serpell MG, O’Dwyer PJ. Outcome of patients with severe chronic painfollowing repair of groin hernia. Br J Surg 2002; 89: 1310-131413 Kumar S, Wilson RG, Nixon SJ, Macintyre IM. Chronic pain after laparoscopic and open meshrepair of groin hernia. Br J Surg 2002; 89: 1476-914 Lau H, Patil NG, Yuen WK, Lee F. Prevalence and severity of chronic groin pain after endoscopictotally extraperitoneal inguinal hernioplasty: Surg Endosc 2003; 17: 1620-315 Grant AM, Scott NW, O’Dwyer PJ, on behalf of the MRC Laparoscopic Groin Hernia Trial Group.Five year follow-up of a randomized trial to asses pain and numbness after laparoscopic oropen repair of groin hernia. Br J Surg 2004; 91: 1570-157416 O'Dwyer PJ, Kingsnorth AN, Molloy RG, Small PK, Lammers B, Horeyseck G. Randomized clinicaltrial assessing impact of a lightweight or heavyweight mesh on chronic pain after inguinalhernia repair. Br J Surg 2005; 92: 166-70.17 Franneby U, Sandblom G, Nordin P, Nyren O, Gunnarsson U. Risk factors for long-term pain afterhernia surgery. Ann Surg 2006; 244: 212-918 Mikkelsen T, Werner MU, Lassen B, Kehlet H. Pain and sensory dysfunction 6 to 12 months afteringuinal herniotomy. Anesth Analg 2004; 99: 146-15119 Jönsson A-C, Lindgren I, Hallström B, Norrving B, Lindgren A. Prevalence and intensity of painafter stroke: a population based study focusing on patients’ perspectives. J Neurolog. Neurosurg.Psychiatry 2006; 77: 590-59520 Collins SL, Moore RA, McQuay HJ. The visual analogue pain intensity scale: what is moderate painin millimetres? Pain 1997; 72: 95-9721 Jensen MP, Chen C, Brugger AM. Interpretation of Visual Analog Scale Ratings and changescores: a reanalysis of two clinical trial of postoperative pain. J Pain 2003; 4: 407-41422 Lund I, Lundeberg T, Sandberg L, Norrbrink Budh, Kowalski J, Svensson E. Lack of interchangeabilitybetween visual analogue and verbal rating pain scales: a cross sectional description ofpain etiology groups. BMC Medical Research Methodology 2005; 5: 3123 Loos MJA, Roumen RMH, Scheltinga MRM. Classifying postherniorrhaphy pain syndromesfollowing elective inguinal hernia repair. World J Surg 2007; 31: 1760-560 Chapter 4Evaluating postherniorrhaphy groin pain: Visual Analogue or Verbal Rating Scale? 61