Heshmatollah Sofimajidpour1, Ebrahim Ghaderi2, Omid Ganji3. 1. Associate Professor, Department of Urology, Faculty of Medicine, Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences , Sanandaj, Iran . 2. Assistant Professor, Department of Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences , Sanandaj, Iran . 3. General Physician, School of Medicine, Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences , Sanandaj, Iran .
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Varicocele is defined as dilated and twisted veins of the pampiniform plexus in the spermatic cord. It is the most common cause of male infertility. There are various medical and surgical procedures for the treatment of this disease. AIM: This study was aimed to compare the effects of oral administration of L-Carnitine and varicocelectomy on spermogram parameters. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study was conducted as a double blind clinical trial without randomization. Inclusion criteria were, all married infertile men with varicocele. Patients chose their treatment personally and spermogram was carried out for all patients before and after the third and sixth months of treatment. Then, the sperm parameters of the two groups were compared using repeated measures ANOVA. RESULTS: In our study, trend of sperm count in the surgery group changed from 22 to 28.61 million (vs 34.6 to 45.37 in L-Carnitine group), motility changed from 21.74 to 35.38 percent (vs 33.9 to 47.48 in L-Carnitine group), normal sperm morphology changed from 46.25 to 60 percent (vs 56.61 to 69.7 in L-Carnitine group) and volume of semen changed from 3.5 to 4.17 cc (vs 2.95 to 4.33 in L-Carnitine group). These values were not statistically different between the two groups. CONCLUSION: Based on the results of this study, we can say that medicinal treatment by administration of oral L-Carnitine is as effective as varicocelectomy in improving semen parameters and can be used as an alternative to surgery for varicocele grade II.
RCT Entities:
BACKGROUND: Varicocele is defined as dilated and twisted veins of the pampiniform plexus in the spermatic cord. It is the most common cause of male infertility. There are various medical and surgical procedures for the treatment of this disease. AIM: This study was aimed to compare the effects of oral administration of L-Carnitine and varicocelectomy on spermogram parameters. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study was conducted as a double blind clinical trial without randomization. Inclusion criteria were, all married infertile men with varicocele. Patients chose their treatment personally and spermogram was carried out for all patients before and after the third and sixth months of treatment. Then, the sperm parameters of the two groups were compared using repeated measures ANOVA. RESULTS: In our study, trend of sperm count in the surgery group changed from 22 to 28.61 million (vs 34.6 to 45.37 in L-Carnitine group), motility changed from 21.74 to 35.38 percent (vs 33.9 to 47.48 in L-Carnitine group), normal sperm morphology changed from 46.25 to 60 percent (vs 56.61 to 69.7 in L-Carnitine group) and volume of semen changed from 3.5 to 4.17 cc (vs 2.95 to 4.33 in L-Carnitine group). These values were not statistically different between the two groups. CONCLUSION: Based on the results of this study, we can say that medicinal treatment by administration of oral L-Carnitine is as effective as varicocelectomy in improving semen parameters and can be used as an alternative to surgery for varicocele grade II.
Entities:
Keywords:
Infertility; Medical therapy; Surgical therapy
Authors: Ashok Agarwal; Fnu Deepinder; Marcello Cocuzza; Rishi Agarwal; Robert A Short; Edmund Sabanegh; Joel L Marmar Journal: Urology Date: 2007-09 Impact factor: 2.649