title: Phleboliths in varicoceles presenting as spermatic cord mass.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To discuss the diagnosis and management of phleboliths in the dilated veins of a varicocele.
  
  
  METHODS
  Case report.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two healthy patients in an academic andrology center.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two healthy patients undergoing evaluation and treatment of male factor infertility.
  
  
  METHODS
  Ultrasonography and varicocele repair.
  
  
  METHODS
  Improvement in male factor infertility.
  
  
  RESULTS
  One patient had a phlebolith diagnosed ultrasonographically by echogenicity and acoustic shadowing within a dilated vein of a varicocele. Another patient had a hard mass found within a dilated vein of a varicocele at the time of surgical repair.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A hard rounded mass within a spermatic vein identified at surgery or sonographically within the veins of the spermatic cord should be considered a phlebolith. Decisions regarding treatment depend on clinical presentation.
authors.affiliation: Harvard Medical School, Division of Urology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. s_lazarou@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lazarou
authors.forename: Luis
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Reyes-Vallejo
authors.forename: Abraham
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Morgentaler
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002114:Calcinosis / Q000150:complications* / Q000601:surgery*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D006801:Humans; D007248:Infertility, Male / Q000209:etiology* / Q000517:prevention & control*; D008297:Male; D013085:Spermatic Cord / Q000473:pathology*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014646:Varicocele / Q000150:complications* / Q000601:surgery*