title: Testicular volume and fertility potential in men operated due to varicocele and testicular hypotrophy in adolescence.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Failure to perform surgical repair of varicocele before puberty is among the common causes of male infertility. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the testicular volume and fertility potential in men after laparoscopic varicocelectomy conducted in adolescence due to varicocele and concomitant testicular hypotrophy.
  
  
  METHODS
  From 1996 through 2011, eighty-two adolescents were operated on for unilateral primary varicocele with testicular hypotrophy. Sixty-eight patients were subject to the current analysis. The age of the patients was 13 to 17 years (mean 15.3 years). Clinical diagnosis was established on the basis of andrologic examination and ultrasonography with an assessment of testicular size and varicocele severity. Laparoscopic surgical repair was performed by a transperitoneal approach with division of testicular vein only.
  
  
  RESULTS
  An increase in left testicular volume when compared with the contralateral testis was found in 25 (78.1%) young men with clinical grade 2 varicocele (p = 0.02) and in 32 (88.8%) subjects with grade 3 abnormality (p = 0.04). An increase in left testicular volume was found in 46 (85.1%) of 54 patients with unilateral varicocele and in 12 (85.7%) of 14 subjects operated on for bilateral disease. A left testicular volume increase was comparable independent of the use of uni- or bilateral repair. Fifty-eight (85.2%) of our 68 patients had normozoospermia.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Laparoscopic varicocele repair resulted in a significant increase of hypotrophic testicular volume in 83.8% of our subjects.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Silesian Medical University, Zabrze, Poland.
authors.forename: Piotr
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bryniarski
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Silesian Medical University, Zabrze, Poland.
authors.forename: Zbigniew
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Kaletka
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Silesian Medical University, Zabrze, Poland.
authors.forename: Jacek
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Huk
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Silesian Medical University, Zabrze, Poland.
authors.forename: Mieczysław
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fryczkowski
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Silesian Medical University, Zabrze, Poland.
authors.forename: Grzegorz
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Prokopowicz
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Silesian Medical University, Zabrze, Poland.
authors.forename: Marcin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zyczkowski
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Silesian Medical University, Zabrze, Poland.
authors.forename: Bartosz
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Muskała
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Silesian Medical University, Zabrze, Poland.
authors.forename: Piotr
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Taborowski
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Silesian Medical University, Zabrze, Poland.
authors.forename: Andrzej
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Paradysz
keywords: laparoscopy; testicular hypotrophy; varicocele