The yield of microscopic varicocelectomy in men with severe oligospermia

Varicocele is detected in 35%-50% of men with primary infertility and up to 81% with secondary infertility. Various studies have shown that varicocele is related to testicular hypotrophy and impaired spermatogenesis. The effect of varicocelectomy in mild-to-moderate male factor infertility has been well reported. However, only a few studies addressed the impact of varicocelectomy in severe oligospermia.

We included 45 patients with severe oligospermia (<5 million/mL) who underwent microsurgical varicocelectomy between May 2014 and November 2017. Results of semen analysis taken at 6 months after varicocelectomy were compared and patients were divided into responders and nonresponders. Chi-square was used to compare the preoperative and postoperative sperm count, motility, and volume.

After 6 months only one patient was found to be a responder with a pre- to post-operative motility of 45%-74% and a sperm concentration of 1 million/mL to 28.1 million/mL. There was a significant improvement in the mean sperm concentration after varicocelectomy which improved from 1.31 million/mL to 5.32 million/mL. However, a significant decrease in sperm motility was noted which decreased from 35.62% to 28.64% postoperatively. Postoperative semen volume increased from 2.56 mL to 3.19 mL, but this difference was not found to be statistically significant (P > 0.05). Four patients (8.9%) were found to have azoospermia after a 6-month follow-up. In these four patients who turned azoospermic had count <50,000 sperm/mL, two of them had a history of cryptospermia before varicocelectomy. Ejaculate sperm returned in two of these four patients in long-term follow-up (>6 months).

The magnitude of improvement after microsurgical varicocelectomy for severely oligospermic patients is less profound than reported in mild male factor infertility.