[Studies of transrectal prostatic ultrasonography on patients with male infertility]

The diagnostic significance of transrectal prostatic ultrasonography for chronic prostatitis and varicocele was evaluated in 380 male infertility patients. Of 20 patients with pyospermia, thought to be mainly caused by chronic prostatitis, 10.0 percent showed heterogeneous echo pattern of the prostate, while 25.0 percent showed capsular irregularity. Since 285 patients with non-infected semen showed similar sonographic findings, it is concluded that prostatic ultrasonography has little value in the diagnosis of chronic prostatitis in infertile patients. Enlarged periprostatic echo-free zone, thought to coincide with the dilatation of the Santrini's plexus, was found in 42.9 and 42.7 percent of patients with chronic prostatitis and varicocele, respectively, in contrast to 34.0 percent of patients without either diseases. Twelve percent of patients with varicocele showed highly enlarged echo-free zone, which was significantly more frequent compared to 5.0 percent in normal patients. Moreover, follow up of 4 patients with varicocele pre- and post-operatively found 2 of them to show a great improvement in the enlargement of the zone. These results suggest that varicocele may cause the dilation of the Santrini's plexus through a venous anastomosis in some patients and transrectal ultrasonography may be a useful tool in detecting small varicoceles in such patients.