Reply To: Patterns of recurrence associated with specific types of inguinal hernia repair

[Watchful]

I really wonder about the “not higher rates of complications when compared with other techniques” statement at the end of the Results section of the abstract. They say the difficulty of the recurrent hernia surgery is higher with Shouldice, but not the complications rate.

Do they actually substantiate that in the paper in some way? Seems like a difficult thing to figure out.

Based on my experience, they don’t actively follow up with their patients. No one ever contacted me after my surgery. I guess maybe they contacted their recurrent hernia patients (mine was primary). Even if they got that information somehow, not sure how they figured out what the complications rate would be with other techniques for repairing recurrent hernias after Shouldice and open mesh repairs.