Adolescent varicocele: Efficacy of indication-to-treat protocol and proposal of a grading system for postoperative hydroceles.

BACKGROUND: Varicocele is a common urologic anomaly in adolescent males; however, evidence-based treatment guidelines do not exist. Hydroceles are known to be a common complication after surgical therapy, with a wide variation in the reported incidence between 1 and 40%.

AIM: This study aimed to introduce a standardized indication-to-treat protocol and prove its efficacy by analyzing the outcome of patients. Secondly, it aimed to better define postoperative hydroceles because the wide variation of reported incidence is attributed to a lack of definition.

METHODS: Our standardized treatment protocol included an initial assessment with clinical grading of varicoceles, ultrasound evaluation of testicular volume, and calculation of the atrophy index. Indications for surgical treatment were testicular volume asymmetry >20%, discomfort and pain, or bilateral varicocele. The Palomo procedure (laparoscopically since 2005) was the standard procedure. Postoperative hydroceles were graded according to clinical findings and symptoms: Grade I, sonographic chance finding without clinical correlate; Grade II, palpable but clinically insignificant; Grade III, symptomatic. All patients treated according to the defined protocol were prospectively monitored between January 2001 and December 2015.

RESULTS: A total of 129 patients with left varicocele were referred to our institution; 70 fulfilled the indication criteria for surgical treatment. Twenty-eight of these patients were treated for volume asymmetry, 26 of these showed catch-up growth. Forty-two patients were treated for discomfort and pain; the symptoms subsided in all of them. Postoperative hydroceles were detected in 36 patients (51%). In 29 patients this was a sonographic chance finding (Grade I). Three patients showed a palpable but clinically insignificant postoperative hydrocele (Grade II) and four patients (5.7%) showed symptomatic hydrocele (Grade III) where treatment was recommended.

DISCUSSION: The treatment protocol allowed judicious indication for surgery and postoperative outcomes similar to previous reports. The high rate of catch-up growth in operated cases represents a proxy for successful treatment in cases where more precise parameters, like semen quality or paternity rate, were not yet detectable. The introduced grading system for postoperative hydroceles provs to be a valid and appropriate instrument, and promises to be a standardized method for comparing outcomes in future studies.

CONCLUSION: The indication-to-treat protocol proved to be easily applicable, highly efficient, and have outcomes comparable to international literature. The necessity for a standardized grading of postoperative hydroceles was underscored in the data.