CeQOL - Inguinal Hernia

Quality of Life after Inguinal Hernia Repair

Hernia repairs are the most common operation performed worldwide. For many years, the surgical measure of success was almost solely considered to be the lack of hernia recurrence. Today, better defined surgical techniques and the use of mesh to repair a hernia have substantially decreased the incidence of surgical failure. Given this, we believe that the next phase in hernia surgery is to use a patient’s quality-of-life (QOL) as the major measure of operative success. The Carolinas Equation for Quality of Life (CeQOL) predicts the incidence of chronic pain following inguinal hernia repair in males. Male users simply answer 18 simple questions about themselves, their hernia, and their current QOL status as it relates to their hernia, and a percentage chance of having some form of discomfort 1 year following surgery is produced and interpreted. The complex mathematical equation, which was derived from closely following patients from around the world after their surgery, has been independently tested and found to be accurate and reliable. Our ultimate goal is to use mobile app technology to provide surgeons and patients with a powerful educational tool that can predict individualized QOL outcomes after inguinal hernia surgery and offer patients extensive educational materials concerning many types of hernias and their treatments.