Varicocele, the culprit of infertility

  Varicocele is one of the common diseases in men, often occurring on the left side, and is a common cause of male infertility.  Varicocele can first appear during childhood or adolescent development. The poor reflux of the spermatic veins leads to high scrotal temperature and the local accumulation of harmful substances, resulting in testicular growth and development and dysfunction, thus affecting sperm production and reducing semen quality, which can eventually lead to infertility.  Early diagnosis and timely treatment of varicocele may effectively reverse this process of testicular damage. After aggressive and appropriate treatment, the affected testicle volume can gradually return to normal and sperm quantity and quality can be expected to reach normal population levels. In general, the earlier the varicocele is treated, the faster the recovery of the affected testis, so adolescents with varicocele should be treated as early as possible.  Patients with varicocele causing significant local symptoms or semen abnormalities require surgical treatment. There are three types of surgical treatment: 1. Traditional open surgery: The traditional spermatic vein surgery is a high level ligation of the spermatic vein via the external ring. The surgical incision is often in the lower left abdomen, which is not only traumatic, but also has a certain recurrence rate. With the advancement of medical treatment, this surgical procedure has been used less and less.  2, laparoscopic internal spermatic vein high ligation: laparoscopic internal spermatic vein high ligation has the advantages of less trauma and faster recovery than traditional surgery, especially for patients with bilateral varicocele, it is the first way. But the biggest disadvantage of laparoscopic surgery is to open the natural barrier of human abdominal cavity —- peritoneum, and it is difficult to distinguish testicular artery and vein under laparoscopy, which makes the surgery very difficult and expensive, so the once widely used laparoscopic spermatic vein ligation is gradually abandoned by many doctors.  Microscopic spermatic vein ligation: Microscopic spermatic vein ligation is a newly emerged surgical method in recent years, which has more obvious advantages than the first two surgical methods, with less invasive incisions and can still be performed on patients with recurrence after traditional surgery or a history of groin surgery. More importantly, it is possible to clearly separate and protect the internal spermatic artery under the microscope, thus ensuring the blood supply to the testes and better restoring the function of the testes, which brings the surgical treatment of varicocele to a higher level. However, this procedure requires a high level of surgeon, and generally requires a surgeon trained in microsurgery to perform it. With the popularity of microscopic technology in urology, this procedure is becoming more and more popular and has become the first choice for varicocele surgery.