Varicocele in Children and Adolescents: An Investigation of the Incidence Among Danish School Children

Abstract

The incidence of varicocele in an unselected material consisting of 1072 Danish school boys aged 6–19 years was investigated. No cases of varicocele were encountered in 188 boys, aged 6–9 years, while the incidence in the 837 examined boys, aged 10–19 years, was 16.2%. This showed a steadily increasing incidence from 5.7% in the 10-year-old group to 19.3% at the age of 14 years. The incidence of “genuine” clinical varicocele showed an increase from 1.9% in 10-year-olds to 10.6% in 14-year-olds. All of the varicoceles were found in the left half of the scrotum. The development of puberty was more advanced in the boys with varicocele than in the control material. The boys with varicocele were taller than those without. These two observations are presumed to be of significance for the development of varicocele. The figures for the incidence of varicocele from the literature, compared with the author's own findings, suggest that there is a difference in the incidence of varicocele in fertile and infertile males. Furthermore it appears probable that, in some cases, varicocele plays a part in spermatogenesis and fertility. In cases such as these, high ligation of the internal spermatic vein appears to be an effective form of treatment of the varicocele. This procedure does not damage the testicle and may result in normalisation of spermatogenesis and increased fertility.