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INTRODUCTION: Postoperative complications such as recurrence, infection, and pain affect patiet quality of life after inguinal hernia repair. The optimal repair material would be non-allergenic, strong, flexible, permanent, and incorporated into host tissues, and porcine dermal collagen fulfils these criteria. This trial compares postoperative complications and quality of life following inguinal hernia repair using modified porcine dermal collagen and polypropylene.

The planning of services for the treatment of chronic pain does not seem to be based on adequate information. Although some epidemiological studies exist already, there is a need for more epidemiological knowledge. We have tried to develop a mail questionnaire which may, to some extent, separate pain sensory intensity from pain affect and behaviour. In this paper we refer to the development and testing of a pain sensory intensity scale based on common pain experiences. 155 subjects classified the intensity of 15 common pain states. The classifications were then compared. The results indicate that there are pain states which many people have experienced and which they are able to rank according to pain intensity. The pain sensory intensity scale we based on five of these pain experiences or groups of pain experience.

Sixty-nine postoperative patients indicated the severity of their pain using eight measures designed to assess pain intensity and two designed to measure pain affect. The utility and validity of the 10 measures were evaluated according to two criteria: (a) the magnitude of the relationship between each scale and a linear combination of the pain measures, and (b) relative rates of incorrect responding. The results indicate that each of the measures of pain intensity is adequately valid. In addition, this sample of patients failed to differentiate pain intensity and pain affect using the present measures, suggesting the need for additional research to explore the validity of the affective measures employed in the study. The 11-point Box Scale (BS-11) of pain intensity demonstrated the strongest relationship to a linear combination of all of the measures employed and was responded to correctly by each subject in the sample. All else being equal, these results suggest that the BS-11 scale may be the most useful clinical index of pain intensity among postoperative patients.

Background Patient satisfaction with postoperative pain management is an important quality indicator in patient health care, but its determinants are poorly understood. Here, we examined the contribution of the discrepancy between an individual’s estimated acceptable and actual postoperative pain scores to the overall satisfaction with pain treatment. Findings A total of 93 surgical patients were included in this study. Preoperatively, the subjects were asked to rate their estimated acceptable postoperative pain using a numerical rating scale (NRS). One day after the surgery, the patients were again asked to give NRS ratings of the overall actual pain intensity they had experienced, as well as their satisfaction with the provided pain treatment. The median estimated acceptable and actual NRS values for postoperative pain were 4.0 (3.0–5.0) and 4.0 (2.0–5.0), respectively. Although there was no correlation between the degree of patient satisfaction and preoperative estimated acceptable pain intensity, there was a significant negative correlation between the degree of patient satisfaction and postoperative actual pain intensity. When the preoperative estimated acceptable NRS value was compared with the postoperative actual value for each individual, postoperative NRS was greater in 34 cases (36.6%), less in 43 cases (46.2%), and equal in 16 cases (17.2%). The degree of patient satisfaction was not significantly correlated with the magnitude of difference between preoperative estimated acceptable NRS and postoperative actual NRS. Conclusions Our findings suggest that inquiring about the estimated acceptable pain before surgery may not help anesthesiologists to understand the patient’s goal of pain management for improving patient satisfaction.