Improving Conception Odds
Reported July 23, 2008
(Ivanhoe Newswire) — There are more than three million infertile couples in the United States. Forty percent of those cases are due to male infertility. Now, a new, minimally invasive procedure for a common cause of male infertility is significantly improving those couples’ odds of conception.
Women often complain of unsightly varicose veins in their legs. But men can also develop the same swollen veins called varicoceles — in the scrotum. Varicoceles are a common cause of male infertility due to the decreased blood flow in the testicles. A new procedure called venous embolization has shown success in treating men with varicoceles and significantly increased sperm count for many of these patients within six months of treatment.
“With the patients’ improved sperm function, more than one-quarter of their healthy partners were able to become pregnant,” Sebastian Flacke, M.D., Ph.D., an associate professor of radiology at Tufts University School of Medicine and lead author of the study, was quoted as saying.
Researchers also found a high level of sperm motility increased a patient’s chance of successful post-treatment pregnancy.
The minimally invasive, outpatient procedure uses a catheter inserted through a small incision in the groin. Approximately 10 to 15 percent of American males develop varicoceles, most between the ages of 15 and 25.
SOURCE: Radiology, August 2008