New Evidence that Varicocele Repair Can Help Some Men
I just received an advanced copy of a meta-analysis study done at Cleveland Clinic on whether or not surgical repair of varicoceles increases spontaneous pregnancy rates. This data will be in ob/gyn Perspectives Fall 2007 . It looked at results from 5 different well designed studies and found that 33% of couples following surgery became spontaneously pregnant, while only 16% did without repair.
The authors concluded “Surgical varicocelectomy in infertile men with palpable lesions and at least one abnormal semen parameter improves the odds of spontaneous pregnancy”. I very much agree with these findings, in particular because varicoceles increase the percentage of sperm with damaged DNA or genetic material, and repairing the problem allows DNA damage of sperm to lessen for most men.
Often medical clinics that promote no repair are those that heavily push for assisted reproduction to obtain pregnancy. I am much more a fan of trying to fix a problem in the man, to support as many natural pregnancies as a couple wants-with proven safer outcomes for all!
Dr. E
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