EFFECTIVENESS OF LAPAROSCOPIC VARICOCELECTOMY

Laparoscopic varicocelectomy is a new technique which has been describ ed in a limited number of clinical reports. We reviewed the results of 46 patients undergoing laparoscopic repair of 75 varicoceles over a t wo-year period to assess the effectiveness of this operative technique . The internal spermatic artery was preserved in 80 percent of the var icoceles and two arteries were present in 5 percent. Our ability to pr eserve the internal spermatic artery improved significantly with the u se of the intraoperative Doppler probe after the first six months of p erforming this operation (p < 0.01). Nineteen infertile patients had a minimum follow-up of twelve months with seminal improvement in 68 per cent and a pregnancy rate of 26 percent. Complications occurred in 2 p atients (4%), inferior epigastric vessel bleeding in one, and genitofe moral nerve injury in the other. There was one persistent varicocele ( 1 %). Our results with laparoscopic varicocelectomy are comparable wit h those reported with standard open surgical approaches.