Objective To explore the effectiveness of tension-free herniorrhaphy with Ultrapro Plug (UPP) mesh through a femoris approach for femoral hernia repair. Methods Between March 2009 and January 2013, 123 patients (126 sides) underwent tension-free herniorrhaphy with UPP mesh through a femoris approach. There were 17 males and 106 females, aged 32-95 years (mean, 63.3 years). The locations were the left side in 48 cases, the right side in 72 cases, and both sides in 3 cases. The disease duration was 1 month to 26 years (median, 25 months). Of 123 cases, 35 cases (36 sides) were reducible and 88 cases (90 sides) were irreducible. According to American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) classification, 20 cases were rated as grade I, 42 cases as grade II, 56 cases as grade III, and 5 cases as grade IV. The operation time, postoperative hospitalization time, complication, recurrence, and chronic pain were recorded. Results The operation time was 7-28 minutes (mean, 14.5 minutes); postoperative hospitalization time was 2-96 hours (mean, 19.4 hours) (112 patients discharged from hospital within 24 hours). Wound dehiscence occurred in 1 case and fat liquefaction in 2 cases. A total of 119 patients (122 sides) were followed up 4-50 months (median, 18 months); no recurrence was noted. Two cases (2 sides) suffered from chronic pain after operation, whose visual analogue scale (VAS) was 20 mm and 30 mm, respectively. Conclusion Tension-free herniorrhaphy with UPP mesh through a femoris approach should be recommended because it has the advantages of simple operation, short operation time, less complication, and lower incidence of chronic pain.
Objective To compare the clinical characteristics of chronic cough, and to establish the Modified Cough Assessment Test and the simple decision tree to improve the efficacy of etiologic diagnosis. Methods Patients with chronic cough consulted in Tongji Hospital between October 2021 and August 2023 were enrolled in our study. The patients with identified single cause were divided into 3 groups accordingly: corticosteroid-responsive cough (CRC), upper airway cough syndrome (UACS) and gastroesophageal reflux-related cough (GERC). And the characteristics of chronic cough in different causes were assessed and compared by cough questionnaires. Independent predictors of various causes were identified by multivariate logistic regression analysis and used to establish the Modified Cough Assessment Test (MCET) and to construct the simple decision tree. Results A total of 358 patients were enrolled, including 201 with CRC (56.1%), 125 with UACS (34.9%) and 32 with GERC (8.94%). "Cough with wheezing or chest tightness" (OR=3.222, 95%CI 2.144 - 4.843, P<0.001), "Cough with daytime heaviness and nighttime lightness" (OR=1.755, 95%CI 1.264 - 2.435, P<0.001), and "Cough with acid reflux, heartburn or indigestion" (OR=15.580, 95%CI 5.894 - 41.184, P<0.001) were independent factors for each group, respectively. The area under ROC curve for classification of CRC, UACS and GERC were 0.871, 0.840 and 0.988 for MCET, which were better than those of Leicester Cough Questionnaire (LCQ) (0.792, 0.766 and 0.913) and Cough Evaluation Test (CET) (0.649, 0.691 and 0.580). The accuracy of the simple decision tree for the differential diagnosis of chronic cough was 77.4%. Conclusion The simple decision tree based on the Modified Cough Evaluation Test is a simple and effective method of etiologic diagnosis of chronic cough, which can be used as a tool to improve the efficacy of clinical diagnosis in outpatient settings.