Elsevier

Fertility and Sterility

Volume 95, Issue 3, 1 March 2011, Pages 841-852
Fertility and Sterility

Modern trends
The great debate: varicocele treatment and impact on fertility

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fertnstert.2011.01.002Get rights and content
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Objective

To evaluate the current literature on the impact and potential mechanisms of varicocele repair on male fertility.

Design

Pertinent articles were identified through computer PubMed search on varicocele repair and male factor infertility. References of selected articles were hand searched for additional citations.

Conclusion(s)

Varicocele repair has been shown to reverse a spectrum of effects contributing to men with impaired fertility. Clinical studies on the intervention have illustrated variable effects on postoperative sperm parameters and pregnancy rates (PR). Studies with conflicting results suffer from a significant number of confounding variables such as variable repair technique or lack of controls. Additional studies are warranted on the role of modern microsurgical varicocelectomy given the improvements in assisted reproductive technologies (ART).

Key Words

Varicocele
surgical repair
male factor infertility
semen analysis
pregnancy rates

Cited by (0)

Edward E. Wallach, M.D.

Associate Editor

M.A.W. has nothing to disclose. J.S. has nothing to disclose. M.F. has nothing to disclose. J.S. has nothing to disclose. G.M.C. has nothing to disclose. D.O. has nothing to disclose.

The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NICHD or NIH.

Supported in part by National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Child Health and Human Development grant U10 HD055936 (G.M.C. and D.A.O.).

Copyright © 2011 American Society for Reproductive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.