Risk Factors and Prevention Strategies for Chronic Postoperative Inguinal Pain After Laparoscopic Inguinal Hernia Repair: A Narrative Review

Inguinal hernias impact millions of people each year. One of the primary complications following inguinal hernia repair is chronic postoperative inguinal pain, which significantly affects patients' quality of life. While laparoscopic surgery has been shown to reduce the incidence of this complication, a considerable number of patients are still affected. Various risk factors have been identified, encompassing both patient-related and surgical factors. Investigating these risk factors is essential for enhancing our understanding of chronic postoperative inguinal pain and finding strategies for its prevention. A narrative review utilizing the PubMed and Scopus databases was conducted, employing the following search terms: chronic postsurgical pain AND inguinal hernia repair AND (risk factors OR prevention) AND (laparoscopic OR minimally invasive), which produced 50 articles for analysis. This article explores the risk factors associated with chronic postoperative inguinal pain following laparoscopic inguinal hernia repair, focusing on both patient-related and surgery-related aspects, as well as potential preventive measures to mitigate this issue. It ultimately highlights that, despite the identification of numerous risk factors and prevention strategies in existing literature, there remains a pressing need for more high-quality research, and challenges must be addressed to significantly lower the risk of this complication.