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How Dr. Brown became a Pure Tissue Repair Surgeon
Various recent topics here converged leading me to conger how Dr. Brown became a proponent of pure tissue repair. By raising this question I believe it could lead to insight into IH. Assuming Dr. Brown is primarily in sports medicine, wouldn’t athletes in contact sports be better off having pure tissue repairs? It seems reasonable to think that violent contacts in football and soccer could seriously damage mesh. Perhaps even baseball and basketball could put mesh at risk by stressful body movements. If valid, then other sports surgeons might also be doing pure tissue repair, creating a viable niche in medical practice. This niche could possibly be overlooked as a source of pure tissue repair. If such a niche exists, it would be reassuring that pure tissue repair would be unlikely to die out. Dr. Brown, of course, is best for answering this question, but short of that, spotlighting sports surgeons could become worthwhile.
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3 Replies
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@ DrBrown Thank you for clarifying. Quite interesting. I never expected that reason–pain. I don’t recall pain being a feature considered in comparative readings about hernia repair methods. Some will say certain methods allow quicker recovery. Maybe that’s a euphemism for pain?
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quote DrBrown:Dear Pinto.
Athletes with sports hernias want their injuries repaired so that they can return to sports.
I advise pure tissue repairs for all these athletes, because 10 to 15% of patients with mesh have pain and that would limit the athletes ability to compete.
All the surgeons who fix lots of sports hernias are doing pure tissue repairs.
Regards
Bill Brown MDThis brings up two interesting questions:
1. Does that include multiple generations of surgeons, and does learning to repair a sports hernia equip such surgeons with the knowledge to repair the “common” inguinal hernia?
2. More of a curiosity: How do competing interests factor in when, say, weighing timely return to play against longevity of career? Would an athlete whose team, say, has a real shot at the Super Bowl sometimes opt for mesh if it meant a shorter recovery and quicker return to play simply for the sake of the short-term (since I’m sure some would rather a Super Bowl ring and the risk of chronic pain one the alternative)?
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Dear Pinto.
Athletes with sports hernias want their injuries repaired so that they can return to sports.
I advise pure tissue repairs for all these athletes, because 10 to 15% of patients with mesh have pain and that would limit the athletes ability to compete.
All the surgeons who fix lots of sports hernias are doing pure tissue repairs.
Regards
Bill Brown MD
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