Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Publication Date

1-1-2024

Journal

World Journal of Men's Health

DOI

10.5534/wjmh.230034

PMID

37382284

PMCID

PMC10782123

PubMedCentral® Posted Date

6-22-2023

PubMedCentral® Full Text Version

Post-print

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this meta-analysis is to study the impact of varicocele repair in the largest cohort of infertile males with clinical varicocele by including all available studies, with no language restrictions, comparing intra-person conventional semen parameters before and after the repair of varicoceles.

Materials and methods: The meta-analysis was performed according to PRISMA-P and MOOSE guidelines. A systematic search was performed in Scopus, PubMed, Cochrane, and Embase databases. Eligible studies were selected according to the PICOS model (Population: infertile male patients with clinical varicocele; Intervention: varicocele repair; Comparison: intra-person before-after varicocele repair; Outcome: conventional semen parameters; Study type: randomized controlled trials [RCTs], observational and case-control studies).

Results: Out of 1,632 screened abstracts, 351 articles (23 RCTs, 292 observational, and 36 case-control studies) were included in the quantitative analysis. The before-and-after analysis showed significant improvements in all semen parameters after varicocele repair (except sperm vitality); semen volume: standardized mean difference (SMD) 0.203, 95% CI: 0.129-0.278; p< 0.001; I²=83.62%, Egger's p=0.3329; sperm concentration: SMD 1.590, 95% CI: 1.474-1.706; p< 0.001; I²=97.86%, Egger's p< 0.0001; total sperm count: SMD 1.824, 95% CI: 1.526-2.121; p< 0.001; I²=97.88%, Egger's p=0.0063; total motile sperm count: SMD 1.643, 95% CI: 1.318-1.968; p< 0.001; I²=98.65%, Egger's p=0.0003; progressive sperm motility: SMD 1.845, 95% CI: 1.537%-2.153%; p< 0.001; I²=98.97%, Egger's p< 0.0001; total sperm motility: SMD 1.613, 95% CI 1.467%-1.759%; p< 0.001; l2=97.98%, Egger's p< 0.001; sperm morphology: SMD 1.066, 95% CI 0.992%-1.211%; p< 0.001; I²=97.87%, Egger's p=0.1864.

Conclusions: The current meta-analysis is the largest to date using paired analysis on varicocele patients. In the current meta-analysis, almost all conventional semen parameters improved significantly following varicocele repair in infertile patients with clinical varicocele.

Keywords

Controlled before-after studies, Infertility, male, Meta-analysis, Varicocele

Published Open-Access

yes

Download

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.