Surgical options for varicose spermatocele

  Varicocele (VAC) is a common male condition that is strongly associated with male infertility and is seen in approximately 15% of adult men, 40% of men with infertility and 81% of men with secondary infertility. Surgery is the only way to cure the disease, and surgical options include traditional open surgery as well as laparoscopic surgery.  Studies from the WHO have concluded that the relationship between VAC and male spermatogenesis and fertility impairment is clear; VAC impairs testicular spermatogenesis and Leydig cell function, and this impairment is progressive. Surgery can improve semen parameters and sperm DNA integrity in VAC patients. In recent years, with the development of minimally invasive techniques, laparoscopic and microsurgical procedures for varicocele have become the main surgical modality.  Compared with traditional open surgery, laparoscopic high spermatic vein ligation is less invasive and quicker to recover and can be performed bilaterally at the same time, but the anesthesia is complicated, the cost of surgery is high, the higher CO2 pneumoperitoneum pressure can make testicular artery spasm not easy to distinguish, it cannot effectively protect testicular artery and lymphatic vessels, and it cannot deal with external spermatic veins, and the postoperative complications such as testicular syringomyelia, recurrence and scrotal edema increase, and some patients have postoperative In contrast, microsurgical varicocelectomy (MV) surgery can effectively protect the testicular arteries and lymphatic vessels.  It can effectively protect the testicular arteries and lymphatic vessels, and can identify small veins and ligate them, which can reduce the occurrence of complications and the recurrence rate is very low, generally <2% (9%-16% for traditional and laparoscopic surgery), and the anesthesia is simple and the cost is low, and the study found that the pregnancy rate of spouses after MV surgery is higher than that of laparoscopic surgery. Currently, MV surgery is the most common surgical procedure used in Europe and the United States for the treatment of VAC.  Although MV surgery has become one of the main surgical procedures for the treatment of VAC in Europe and the United States, it is not carried out much in China, which is related to the configuration of surgical equipment and the technical requirements of surgery in domestic hospitals. Given the advantages of MV surgery over traditional surgery, it is now routinely carried out in some hospitals in China and is being increasingly accepted by physicians and patients. Therefore, the pregnancy rate of spouses is not counted. However, in terms of postoperative semen and symptom improvement as well as complications, MV surgery for VAC has greater advantages.