Varicocelectomy: what benefits to the infertile Ghanaian male?

ABSTRACT

Fifty Ghanaian males of infertile marriages found on clinical examination to have varicoceles underwent varicocelectomy. Their mean age was 34.2 years (range 24 to 47 years). The varicocele was left-sided in 36 patients (72 per cent); bilateral in 13 (26 per cent) and right-sided in 1 (2 per cent). The mean of 3 preoperative semen analysis showed 9 patients (18 per cent) had azoospermia while 26 (52 per cent) had counts of 5 million/ml or less. The rest had counts between 6 and 20 million/ml. Normal sperm motolity (50 per cent or more motile sperms) and morphology (50 per cent or more with normal morphology) were seen in 36 per cent and 22 per cent of cases respectively. Following varicocelectomy 26 (52 per cent) obtained an overall improvement in semen quality. Of these 15 (30 per cent) had mean sperm counts above 20 million/ml. None of the patients with azoospermia obtained any benefit. A conception rate of 18 per cent (9/50) was obtained