Predictive parameters of successful varicocele repair.

A total of 130 men presenting with oligospermia and clinically identifiable scrotal varicoceles was evaluated, treated surgically and followed for 1 year for pregnancy rate. The treatment outcome was compared to an age-matched cohort of 83 oligospermic men who had received empirical medical therapy with clomiphene citrate (25 mg. per day) for the same 1-year interval. This study was done to contrast treatment modalities in infertility and not as a strict control. Only eugonadotropic patients in both groups were used for comparison. In the varicocele group the over-all pregnancy rate was 38.5 per cent. Four variables (a lack of testicular atrophy, sperm density greater than 50 million per ejaculate, sperm motility 60 per cent or more and serum follicle-stimulating hormone values less than 300 ng. per ml.) proved to be accurate preoperative predictors of postoperative pregnancy success. Four other variables (varicocele size and laterality, sperm forward progression greater than 2 and normal sperm morphology 60 per cent or more) did not yield statistically significant rates of improvement in pregnancy postoperatively. The pregnancy rate of the eugonadotropic patients undergoing varicocele repair was 45.8 per cent. Despite statistical similarity in patient age, sperm density and mean gonadotropin levels the medically treated patients had a pregnancy rate of only 25.5 per cent, significantly lower than the surgically treated patients. In summary, patients with an identifiable varicocele had a greater chance of achieving a pregnancy following surgical correction than did those treated with empirical drug therapy. In addition, certain preoperative variables in the physical and laboratory analyses appeared to portend a greater surgical response.