M. Dudai et al., LAPAROSCOPIC SIMULTANEOUS LIGATION OF INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL SPERMATICVEINS FOR VARICOCELE, The Journal of urology, 153(3), 1995, pp. 704-705
The conventional treatment of varicocele consists of interruption of r
eflux in the internal spermatic vein either by open retroperitoneal hi
gh Ligation, an open inguinal approach or percutaneous embolization. R
ecently, high ligation of the internal spermatic vein has been perform
ed via laparoscopy. We previously suggested that ligation of the inter
nal spermatic vein alone is not adequate, and a comparative study has
shown that our method of trans-inguinal ligation of the internal and e
xternal spermatic (cremasteric) veins yields better surgical results.
A laparoscopic version of this operation is described, which was perfo
rmed in 25 patients for 31 ligations (6 bilateral cases). Short-term r
esults (followup at 3 months) have shown that the procedure is safe an
d effective (no complications, 24-hour hospitalization and 1 case of p
ersistence due to a technical error). This procedure seems to be an at
tractive alternative to our trans-inguinal combined approach especiall
y if bilateral ligation is necessary.