2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: Breaking: Bernie Sanders to Undergo Hernia Procedure [View all]Docreed2003
(17,481 posts)Thanks for the data dump, I'm quite familiar with the subject and most of the papers you site because I actually deal with this every day as a surgeon. If you look at the data for inguinodynia, some studies suggest it is as high as 60%, but those studies are looking at pain in short time frames, like three months. If you look at a year, you are correct it's probably somewhere between 5-10%. The 5-10% is what I counsel my pts on prior to surgery. I also counsel my patients thoroughly on the other complications you have listed, it's a part of what we do. If anyone is seeing a surgeon and they don't cover the possible complications thoroughly, then I suggest they find a new surgeon.
As to your point about surgical risk: absolutely, any sugery carries a risk. And that's why we counsel patients ahead of time.
Finally, your data from 2006 JAMA has been debated six ways to Sunday in the surgical community. Our current guidelines are to recommend elective repair and I'll gladly provide you with the extensive debunking of the "watchful waiting" data provided by a surgeon whom I trained under. It's easy for non-surgeons to suggest watchful waiting. I can assure you that if you have an inguinal hernia you'd much rather have an elective minimally invasive repair than an open traditional hernia repair in an emergent setting, that might even require bowel resection. I don't suggest surgeries to my patients because I want to force them to have a procedure, I suggest surgery when it's truly needed. Also your statement about prostatectomy for low grade prostate cancer is absolutely not true for any urologist I've ever encountered.