Recurrence or complication: The lesser of two evils? A review of patient-reported outcomes from the VA hernia trial

Abstract

Inguinal hernia is one of the most common disease states affecting men worldwide. The direct and indirect costs of this condition, with or without repair, are great. Recent studies have questioned the need for repair in asymptomatic patients; however, in both of these studies, pain and discomfort were the main reasons for a crossover to repair from the watchful waiting group [1, 2]. © 2010 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.