Is there any predictive value of testicular shear wave elastic modulus in testicular functions for varicocele patients?

Abstract

Varicocele (VC) is a common clinical vascular disease in urology, manifested as the tortuous expansion of the spermatic venous plexus caused by insufficiency or absence of the spermatic vein valve. As the disease progresses, VC would cause testicular atrophy, testicular spermatogenesis and endocrine function progressive decline, eventually would lead to male infertility. The prevalence of VC in general male population is about 15%-20%, while in male infertility patients, it reaches 30%-40% (Jensen et al., 2017;Katz et al., 2017).The preferred treatment for VC-induced testicular dysfunction and infertility is subinguinal micro-varicocelectomy (Cayan et al., 2000;

Nomograms for Predicting Postoperative Sperm Improvements in Varicocele Patients

“…Our study results indicate that the preoperative testicular elastic modulus and testosterone levels have a predictive value for the postoperative total sperm count improvement [42] . Although the pathophysiology of varicocele and the molecular mechanisms involving testicular injury and sperm function impairment have not been elucidated fully, the prevailing consensus is that varicocele can inhibit testosterone biosynthesis and sperm chromosomal abnormalities, and elevate reactive oxygen species, leading to oxidative stress and endoplasmic reticulum stress, triggering germ cell apoptosis [43] , [44] .…”

Assessment of testicular stiffness in fertile dogs with shear wave elastography techniques: a pilot study

“…In human medicine, testicular stiffness has been investigated by elastography in both physiological (10) and pathological testes (11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18). Elastography has been applied for the evaluation of undescended testes, infertility, testicular torsion, tumors, microlithiasis, varicocele and segmental testicular infarction (18), and has shown efficacy in the diagnosis of varicocele (19) and in discriminating focal non-neoplastic lesions from neoplasms, and benign from malignant testicular tumors (20).…”