[Assessment of sapheno-femoral junction continence in 42 patients with primary varicocele]

Varicose veins present a major health problem, causing chronic leg symptoms and disability to a large segment of population. The prevalence rate in adults shows great geographical variations and increases with age. Several authors reported that most cases of primary varicose veins are due to valvular incompetence of saphenofemoral junctions. On the base of close physiopathologic and hemodynamic relationships between primary varicose veins and primary varicocele we decided to evaluate the continence of saphenofemoral junctions in a selected group of young men affected by primary varicocele. MATERIALS AND METHODS. 42 patients were included in the study. The age ranged from 13 to 55 years; the mean age was 28 years. In all cases a clinical and instrumental (ultranosography. Doppler flowmetry) diagnosis of primary varicocele was performed. Bidirectional Doppler flowmetry was used to evaluate the continence of 84 saphenofemoral junctions. RESULTS. Among the group of studied 36 (85.7%) showed a monolateral or bilateral valvular incompetence of saphenofemoral junctions; in the remaining 6 patients (14.3%) there was no evidence of valvular insufficiency. In 84 saphenofemoral junctions studied 52 (61.9%) were found incompetent, 32 to the left side and 20 to the right side. Moreover 2 patients had clinically detectable varicose veins of the lower limbs and symptoms related to chronic venous insufficiency. DISCUSSION. Varicose veins are one of the most prevalent chronic conditions in industrialized countries and places a considerable demand on the health services. Since this pathology is potentially preventable it seems very important to select within populations asymptomatic groups in which there is an increasing risk of chronic venous insufficiency and to perform a clinical and instrumental assessment, based on non invasive techniques. In the past varicose veins were related to other diseases and among them some authors suggested primary varicocele, that is due to venous spermatic reflux and/or valvular incompetence; furthermore varicocele and varicose veins are often familiar. In our 42 patients affected by varicocele only 6 (14.3%) had no Doppler flowmetry evidence of incompetence of saphenofemoral junctions and more than half (61.9%) of the junctions were found incompetent. CONCLUSIONS. In our experience we found a considerable relationship between primary varicocele and venous incompetence of saphenofemoral junctions. Perhaps these patients must be considered a group with an increasing risk to develop primary varicose veins. So we suggest that clinical examination and instrumental assessment should be performed in young men affected by varicocele, in order to obtain a prevention of chronic venous insufficiency of the lower limbs. Nevertheless this retrospective study has to be further confirmed by longterm prospective studies.