Effect of Varicocelectomy on Serum FSH and LH Levels for Patients with Varicocele: a Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

Varicocelectomy can improve the function of testicular Leydig cell for patients with varicocele. We carried out a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess effect of varicocelectomy on serum FSH and LH levels for patients with varicocele. A literature review was performed to identify all published randomized preoperation-postoperation clinical trials of assessing serum FSH and LH levels before and after varicocelectomy. The search included the following databases: PUBMED and EMBASE. The reference lists of retrieved studies were also investigated. A systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted. Five studies were selected from 149 studies, including 312 patients. The meta-analysis showed that serum FSH level (95% confidence interval 0.19-0.77, P = 0.001) and serum LH level (95% confidence interval 0.25-0.91, P = 0.0005) were higher preoperation than postoperation. Serum FSH level decreased by 0.48 ng/dL after varicocelectomy. The mean decrease of the serum FSH was from 0.1 to 4.8 ng/dL. And serum LH decreased by 0.58 ng/dL. The mean decrease of the serum LH was from 0.2 to 2.1 ng/dL. This meta-analysis proves that varicocelectomy perhaps can decrease serum FSH and LH levels in patients with varicocele. And it might be related to the improvement of the function of Leydig cell. But it remains to need a large-scale multicenter randomized controlled study to be further confirmed.