• Khaled Abdelwahab, Ahmed M Eliwa, Mohamed M Seleem, Hazem El Galaly, Ahmed Ragab, Esam A Desoky, Mohamed Naguib, Maged M Ali, Sameh Saber, and Hussain Kamel.
• Urology Department, Zagazig University, Ash Sharqiyah, Egypt.
• Urology. 2017 Sep 1; 107: 103-106.

ObjectiveTo evaluate the role of preoperative testicular shear wave elastography (SWE) in the prediction of improvement of semen analysis parameters after subinguinal microsurgical varicocele ligation in patients with primary infertility and clinically detectable varicocele.Patients And MethodsTesticular SWE before the surgical intervention was done. Forty-eight patients were scheduled for subinguinal microsurgical varicocele ligation as a treatment option. Computer-assisted semen analysis was repeated 6 months after the intervention.ResultsAt a cutoff value of 4.5 kPa, the stiffness index had a sensitivity of 86.4% and a specificity of 84.2% for semen parameter improvement after varicocelectomy. Correlation between different parameters of semen analysis and SWE showed a statistically significant negative correlation between SWE stiffness index and both sperm count (million/mL) and total motility. On the other hand, a nonsignificant negative correlation was found between SWE stiffness index and percentage of normal form.ConclusionTesticular SWE is a good test that can be used in the assessment of male infertility with clinically detectable varicocele, and its results may predict semen parameter improvement after varicocelectomy. Further studies on a larger number of patients are needed to verify our results.Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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