Comparison of extraperitoneoscopic and transperitoneoscopic techniques for the treatment of bilateral varicocele.
OBJECTIVE
Laparoscopic varicocelectomy has been performed in patients with bilateral varicocele. This procedure could be performed either transperitoneally or extraperitoneally. The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness and morbidity of the two approaches.


METHODS
Twenty-one patients underwent transperitoneal repair. Twelve of them had complaints of infertility, and nine of them had pain. Eighteen patient underwent extraperitoneal repair. Twelve of them had complaints of infertility, and six of them had pain. All the patients with pain had clinical varicoceles. In each group, three patients with infertility had unilateral subclinical varicoceles.


RESULTS
No significant difference was found in the duration of surgery, artery-vein discrimination, or morbidity between the extraperitoneal and transperitoneal techniques. In both approaches, the previously infertile patients who have been followed more than 6 months had significant improvement in sperm counts and motilities (P < 0.05). There were no significant differences in the improvement in the extraperitoneal and transperitoneal groups.


CONCLUSIONS
There was no significant difference between the transperitoneal and extraperitoneal techniques in terms of effectiveness and morbidity. The difficulty in identifying the internal spermatic vein and the additional cost of the balloon dissector for the extraperitoneal technique makes us prefer transperitoneal repair.
Demirci
Deniz
D
Department of Urology, Erciyes University Medical Faculty, Kayseri, Turkey. demirci@erciyes.edu.tr
Gülmez
Ibrahim
I
Hakan
N A S
NA
Ekmekçioğlu
Oğuz
O
Karacagil
Mustafa
M
D000328:Adult; D006801:Humans; D007248:Infertility, Male / Q000209:etiology; D010535:Laparoscopy / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010146:Pain / Q000209:etiology; D010149:Postoperative Pain; D013076:Sperm Count; D014646:Varicocele / Q000150:complications / Q000601:surgery*