Varicocele Surgery with Intraoperative Sclerosis of Veins Carmignani

Between September 1999 and December 2002 we evaluated 307 men aged 17–51 years who had varicocele with semen anomalies. In all of the men, the clinical diagnosis was confirmed by scrotal colour Doppler ultrasonography (US). Dubin and Amelar’s classification [4] was used for the clinical examination. The vascular diagnosis was made by the method of Annoni et al. [5], considering the presence of spermatic venous reflux (continuous or intermittent or in a Valsalva manoeuvre while standing) and the speed of the reflux (high, average or slow). Continuous venous reflux or intermittent respiratory reflux without clear swelling of the pampiniform plexus was classed as subclinical varicocele.