TUESDAY, June 15, 2004 (HealthDayNews) -- Age may be a factor in the amount of pain a person experiences following surgery to repair a hernia, says a study in the June issue of the journal Archives of Surgery.
The study found that younger hernia surgery patients had less intense post-surgical pain than older patients.
Researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles collected pain information from 253 men who had either laparoscopic hernia repair or open, non-laparoscopic hernia repair.
In laparoscopic procedures, surgeons insert a video-guided surgical tool through a very small incision, minimizing bleeding and damage to tissues.
The researchers collected post-op pain information from the men one day and one week after surgery.
Patient satisfaction was high for either laparoscopic or non-laparoscopic procedures, they found. The major advantage for patients who had laparoscopic surgery was that they were able to return to work sooner.
The study also found that younger patients experienced much less pain on the first day after surgery, regardless of the type of hernia repair surgery.
"Pain following hernia repair was age-dependent. Following laparoscopic repair, patients had lower first-day pain scores in younger patients and earlier return to normal activities in all patients. Satisfaction was similar for both approaches," the study authors wrote.
More information
The American College of Surgeons has more about hernia repair.
