Laparoscopic spermatic vessel ligation in the treatment of varicocele: report of 129 procedures

With the improvement of laparoscopic techniques in the hands of urologists, a minimally invasive therapy can be offered to patients. We report retrospectively our experience in the laparoscopic treatment of varicoceles. A total of 93 patients with 129 varicoceles were treated by a laparoscopic approach, the mean age was 29 years (12-47), with 57 left varicoceles and 36 bilateral varicoceles. Indications for treatment were infertility in 51 patients and pain in 42 cases. The mean duration of the operation was 40 min (25-85) for bilateral varicoceles, and 24 min (15-65) for left varicoceles. All our patients were operated the day of their admission and 52 patients left the hospital 8 h after the intervention. We report 2 incidents with conversion to open surgery in one case. The pregnancy rate after surgery in patients with infertility was 21%, the recurrence rate was 4%. Laparoscopic spermatic vein ligation in the treatment of varicocele is a minimally invasive procedure, simple, fast and is not a contraindication for other procedures in case of recurrence.