What are varicoceles?

Varicocele is dilated veins of the spermatic cord or the sperm cord which goes from the testicle to inside the body. They're dilated, which means that they are incompetent, normally you do have these veins but they become more like varicose. Particularly, very similar to those varicose veins you get of the legs. Varicose veins of the testicle, varicocele are very common though, they occur in 15% of men walking around who have had children. So, the problem of course if identifying those patients that might be at risk of problems and in particular they may be at risk of fertility issues. The fixation of varicocele was a very controversial area but we do know that some men, if you fix a varicocele, you can improve their fertility but that all depends on the grade of the varicocele itself. Varicoceles can also cause damage to sperm DNA as well, so in fact men who have multiple miscarriages or failure of conception or those men who fail IVF treatment, should be evaluated for a varicocele, just to make sure that it is not a varicocele which is the underlying root or cause of the problem.