Preoperative and Intraoperative Scrotal Duplex Ultrasound in the Assessment of Varicocele: A Comparative Study

Abstract

Background: This study aimed to compare the accuracy of preoperative and intraoperative scrotal duplex ultrasound (SDU) in assessing varicocele, a common cause of male subfertility. Methods and Results: The study was conducted on 20 male patients scheduled for subinguinal varicocelectomy at a tertiary care hospital from March 2022 to March 2023. We used Grey-Scale US and Doppler US to evaluate testicular size, vein diameter, arterial flow parameters, and retrograde flow. We found that the preoperative scrotal duplex was a good and accurate method for assessing the grading of varicocele, and there was no significant difference in vein diameter or venous reflux between preoperative and intraoperative assessments. However, we observed a significant increase in the number of veins and testicular volume during intraoperative SDU compared to preoperative scrotal SDU. Conclusion: SDU is a reliable tool for determining testicular volume and provides objective, accurate, and reproducible measurements of testicular volume.

Keywords

• varicocele
• infertility
• varicocelectomy
• scrotal duplex ultrasound