Antioxidant therapy of male infertility in patients with varicocele

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The study of the relationship between the presence of varicocele and male infertility is the subject of numerous studies, while many aspects of impaired spermatogenesis remain unclear. It has been established that after surgical treatment of varicocele, fertility is not restored in a significant number of patients. In this regard, the search for new and pathogenetically substantiated methods of treating such patients seems to be very relevant.

AIM: To evaluate the effectiveness of antioxidant therapy in spermatogenesis disorders in men with varicocele, prescribed both in combination with surgery and as monotherapy.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Three groups of infertile men with varicocele were observed, who were treated with Speroton (a complex containing folic acid, L-carnitine, zinc, selenium, vitamin E) 1 sachet once a day, the duration of the course was three months. Patients of the first group (n = 43) were prescribed the drug after the Ivanissevich operation, the patients of the second group (n = 37) received antioxidant therapy during three months before the Ivanissevich operation and continued for three months after it. Patients of the third group (n = 21) did not undergo surgery, but received only antioxidant therapy for six months. The results of the combined treatment and conservative therapy with Speroton were compared with the results of treatment of 65 infertile patients who underwent only Ivanissevich’s operation.

RESULTS: In patients with varicocele with initially pathological parameters of ejaculate, who were prescribed drugs with antioxidant properties in the postoperative period as an adjuvant treatment for 3 months, in 76.7% of cases there was a change in spermogram indicators towards improvement. The most significant changes were observed six months after the operation and subsequent adjuvant therapy. The indicators characterizing sperm motility underwent more noticeable changes. In patients who received only antioxidant therapy for six months, in all cases, there was a statistically significant (p < 0.001) improvement in sperm motility, which persisted for six months and exceeded these changes in groups of patients with adjuvant therapy and neo- and adjuvant therapy.

CONCLUSIONS: The results obtained allow us to conclude that there is no need for surgical treatment for varicocele in order to treat male infertility, since the operation itself can negatively affect the state of spermatogenesis, and conservative antioxidant therapy leads to better results in infertility treatment than the performed operation or any combination of it with antioxidant therapy.

Keywords

male infertility / varicocele / antioxidant therapy

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