Ateeque Ahemed Khan, Tanveerul Haq, Anjum Ara Hasan.
Discuss the effects of surgical ligation and percutaneous embolization of testicular varicocele on improvements in fertility parameters.
Ann Abbasi Shaheed Hosp Karachi Med Dent Coll Jan ;10(2):716-22.

Objective: It is claimed in various international journal that varicocele is a leading cause of male infertility and shows significant improvement in fertility parameters and pregnancy rate after treatment of varicocele either by varicocelectomy or gondal vein embolization but we have disproved this claim in our study. Design: A retrospective study with few prospective cases Material and Methods: It is retrospective study with few prospective cases. We have selected all those infertile male patients who under gone varicocele treatment. We obtained hormonal assay, seminal assay as pre-treatment baseline values as well as post-treatment values at 1,2,3 and 6 months intervals. Couples were also followed for pregnancy for up to 5 years. Results: Total cases selected were pre-treatment and post-treatment. Results were analyzed and compared with those published in national and international journals. No significant improvement was observed in fertility parameters and pregnancy rate. This signifies that varicocele is not significant and leading cause of infertility in males. Conclusion: Treatment of varicocele either by surgical ligation or percutaneous embolization did not showed any significant improvement in fertility parameters and pregnancy rate. This signifies that varicocele is not significant and leading cause of infertility in males.

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