Do you experience pain or swelling in your testicles? Did you turn out to be positive on infertility test? You might need a varicocele embolisation!A varicocele embolisation is a minimally invasive treatment that is used to block the blood flow in the damaged veins in your scrotum. Read on for more insights…
What is Varicocele Embolisation?
A varicocele is an abnormality in the veins that take blood away from the testicle. Due to the abnormality in the veins, the veins swell and become more obvious, like varicose veins. To get rid of this problem, you should go for varicocele embolisation wherein the abnormal veins are blocked satisfactorily.
Need for Varicocele Embolisation
A varicocele might cause discomfort in your scrotum. The situation becomes worse when you go for physical activities like standing, exercising or cycling. Varicoceles are diagnosed when you go for the investigation of infertility and this treatment will help you in raising your sperm count.
Varicocele Embolisation Treatment Procedure
Your doctor will firstly tell you to lie on an X-Ray table, usually flat on your back. Your doctor will then insert a needle into a vein in your arm to sedate you so that you can experience less pain.
A monitoring device will be attached to your chest and finger to keep a track of your heart-rate and other vital signs. You will be provided oxygen through small tubes that enter your nose. The skin near the point of incision will be shaved and sterilized and the rest of your body will be covered with a theatre towel. Your physician will then numb the area, usually the groin, (occasionally it can be neck) with a local anesthesia.
A small incision is made on the area. With the help of image guidance, a thin, long, plastic tube is inserted. This tube is called catheter. It is inserted through your skin into the femoral vein which is a large blood vessel in the groin, and it is moved to the treatment site. Thereafter, small amounts of X-Ray dye are injected. This gives your doctor a complete picture about your veins and the doctor gets to know which veins should he embolize or block.
Finally, tiny coils made of stainless steel are injected in the veins. When this is done, the coils help in preventing the blood flow in the veins. Now, when the blood flow is prevented, backflow in the testicle is stopped and the blood gets diverted to healthy veins to exit the testicle to normal pathways. Hence swelling and pressure within the testicle will reduce.
After the procedure, the catheter will be removed and pressure will be applied to stop bleeding. The opening in the skin is covered with dressing. The procedure will be completed within 1 hour.
Benefits of Varicocele Embolisation
- Your doctor will only perform a small incision on your body which doesn’t require stitches.
- As with many other invasive surgical techniques, the success rate for varicocele embolisation treatment procedure is 90%.
- The recovery time is short.
Risks of Varicocele Embolisation
- There might be damage to the blood vessel, bruising or bleeding might occur at the place where the catheter is inserted.
- The embolic agent might accumulate in a wrong place which might block the oxygen supply in that place.
So if you are tested for infertility, a well-versed doctor can be your target. One such doctor is Abhilash Sandhyala – endo vascular surgeon in hyderabad, Book an Appointment now to for Varicocele Treatment in Hyderabad!