Improvement of semen and pregnancy rate after ligation and division of the internal spermatic vein: fact or fiction?

Abstract

Male partners with left-sided varicoceles of 96 infertile couples were studied. Fifty-one patients were submitted to ligation of the testicular veins and 45 individuals were randomised as controls. During an observation period of 53 months (range 36 to 74 months) we found no statiscally significant improvement in the semen crude variables, the morphology or the progressive motility in the series of men submitted to surgery. The pregnancy rate was lower in those who had an excision of varicocelle.

PIP: Male partners with left-sided varicoceles of 96 infertile couples were studied. 51 patients were submitted to ligation of the testicular veins and 45 individuals were randomized as controls. During an observation period of 53 months (range of 36-74 months), we found no statistically significant improvement in the semen crude variables, the morphology, or progressive motility in the series of men who underwent surgery. The pregnancy rate was lower in those who had their varicoceles excised.