Retinal vessel diameters: Can they predict future risk of infertility in patients with varicocele?

The objective of this study was to assess the relationship between retinal vessel diameters, such as retinal arteriolar diameter, retinal venular diameter, and arteriolar/venular ratio (AVR), as clinical parameters of fertility in varicocele patients.

Sixty-eight (68) infertile varicocele men with abnormal semen parameters and sixty-one (61) varicocele normozoospermic men were included in the study. Moreover, fifty-eight (58) healthy normozoospermic men without varicocele were enrolled as a control group. For each participant, retinal vascular diameters were measured from the digital retinal photographs as a central retinal arteriolar equivalent (CRAE), central retinal venular equivalent (CRVE), and AVR. In addition, hormones (total testosterone and FSH), and semen parameters were assessed and correlated with retinal vessel diameters.

The mean CRAE, CRVE, and AVR values were 147.8 ± 15.8 μm, 198.3 ± 39.3 μm, and 0.61 ± 0.01 in infertile varicocele patients, respectively. Significant difference of CRAE, CRVE, and AVR were found when comparing infertile varicocele patients with both varicocele and control normozoospermic male groups (p = 0.01, p = 0.006, and p = 0.007; respectively). Larger retinal venular caliber and smaller AVR ratio showed a significant inverse correlation with both sperm parameters and hormones (total testosterone and FSH) (p < 0.05). No significant correlations were found between CRAE with both sperm parameters and hormonal values (total testosterone and FSH) (p > 0.05).

Infertile patients with varicocele showed a significant relationship with the retinal vascular diameter (CRVE and AVR ratio). This finding supports recommendation for regular eye examinations in the varicocele population.