Introduction. Нigh testosterone concentration in the testicular vein can be potentially connected towell-known Leydig cell hyperplasia in patient with varicocele. Aim. To study the relationship between the value of testicular hypotrophy and testosterone levelsin the testicular vein in children and adolescents with varicocele.
Materials and methods. The study includes 35 men and adolescents with left-sided varicocele in the fifth stage of puberty according to Tanner. Indications for surgery were formed if adolescents had testicular hypotrophy of 20% or more and pain in the ipsilateral half of the scrotum. In adult patients, indications for varicocelectomy were formed against a background of infertility in marriage combined with pathospermia. We studied the concentration of testosterone in the blood obtained from the testicular vein during varicocelectomy. Blood sampling from the veins of the spermatic cord was performed after obtaining the informed consent from the patients.
Results. An analysis of the correlation revealed a moderate inverse relationship between the absolute values of the testosterone concentration in the testicular vein of patients with varicocele and the index of testicular hypotrophy (Rs = 0.53 (p = 0.001009)).
Conclusion. An increase in the degree of testicular atrophy in adolescents with varicocele at Tanner stage V correlates with a decrease in testosterone level in blood samples obtained from the testicular vein. Thisconfirms the role of the testicular atrophy index as an indicator of the degree of alteration of testicular tissue and as the most important criterion in forming indications for preventive varicocelectomy.
Conflict of interest. The authors declare no conflict of interest.
