Doctor Nguyen Van Phuc, Department of Andrology, Central Military Hospital 108, said that the unit has just received a case of a young man coming for pre-marital examination and discovered abnormalities in the testicles related to varicocele.
The patient is a 28-year-old male, unmarried, coming to the hospital for pre-marital reproductive health check-up with the psychology of wanting to be more secure before marriage.
According to sharing, the patient did not show signs of severe pain, no fever, and normal activities. However, the patient occasionally felt a slight burning sensation in the left scrotum after standing for a long time or exercising vigorously. Due to insignificant symptoms, he had never been checked before.
Through clinical examination, doctors found that the patient's left testicle was smaller than the right one. The scrotal ultrasound results showed images of vasodilation of the left testicle, the diameter of the dilated vein increased when performing the Valsalva test, accompanied by reflux.
The left testicle also showed signs of decreasing in size compared to the opposite side. From there, the patient was diagnosed with atrophy of the left testicle due to prolonged varicocele.
According to Dr. Nguyen Van Phuc, varicocele is a fairly common andrology but is easily overlooked because many cases progress silently, with few clear manifestations.
Most patients only detect it accidentally when going for infertility examination, reproductive health examination or pre-marital examination.
This is a condition where the veins around the testicles are abnormally dilated, affecting blood circulation in the scrotum, increasing the local and long-term temperature, which can affect sperm production function as well as testicular volume," said Dr. Phuc.
If not detected and treated promptly, patients are at risk of: reduced sperm quality, affecting fertility, worsening testicular atrophy, prolonged scrotal pain, affecting daily life, affecting physiology and quality of life...
According to doctors, varicocele usually appears more on the left due to the anatomical characteristics of the vascular system.
Some patients have symptoms of scrotal pain, scrotal weight, or discomfort when standing for a long time, exercising vigorously, or playing sports. However, there are also many cases where there are almost no obvious signs until in-depth examination.
Experts recommend that pre-marital check-ups not only help detect infectious diseases or assess general health, but are also important in checking male reproductive health.
