Infertility Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Infertility, including details on male and female infertility, treatment, causes, pregnancy.

Isolated right-sided varicocele as a salvage pathway for portal hypertension.

Pinggera GM, Herwig R, Pallwein L, Frauscher F, Judmaier W, Mitterberger M, Bartsch G, Mallouhi A

Department of Urology, Medical University Innsbruck, Austria. germar-michael.pinggera@uibk.ac.at

Retrograde blood flow can occur in the testicular veins and in the pampiniformis plexus in the absence of valves or if the valves are incompetent, resulting in tortuosity and dilatation of the veins. These abnormal alterations in the anatomy of the veins, termed varicoceles, are associated with infertility in the male. Most varicoceles occur on the left. We report the case of a rare isolated right-sided varicocele in a male evaluated for infertility in whom extensive work-up revealed venous anomalies and a spontaneous porto-systemic shunt. In such cases, standard approaches to infertility treatment are fruitless.

Published 31 May 2005 in Int J Clin Pract, 59(6): 740-2.
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