-
Yes, there is a bit more info on that.
“Reoperations after Shouldice repair and open mesh repair presented markers for higher surgical difficulty (longer operative time, higher identification of heavy scarring, less nerve identification, and higher frequency of intra-operative consultation) when compared with other techniques (Table 3). Therefore, an empirical timeframe of five years from the index operation (0–5y: 109 patients; > 5y: 99 patients) was tested for the same markers.”
They looked at surgical site occurences of hemotoma, seroma, cellulitis, and wound infection (and the total for all of these post-operative combined complications). Despite the additional complexity associated with Shouldice and open mesh, there was only one post-op complication of a seroma with Shouldice and one case of infection with open mesh, neither of which equated to statistically significant differences from the recurrence repair outcomes of the other primary repair types.
They are indeed just talking about post-op complications, so this doesn’t include any long-term follow up for things like another recurrence, chronic pain, etc.
This is in line with their two study objectives: 1. pattern of recurrence by primary repair type and 2. surgical site occurrences following open recurrence repair by primary repair type.