Evidence map›Paper›PMID 24175046›Full record

ArticleKorean journal of urology2013

Impact of surgical varicocele repair on pregnancy rate in subfertile men with clinical varicocele and impaired semen quality: a meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials.

Kyu Hyun Kim, Joo Yong Lee, Dong Hyuk Kang, Hyungmin Lee, Ju Tae Seo, Kang Su Cho

Registry-linked trialOpen access · hybridAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Korean journal of urology, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT03090438 (The Effect of Preliminary Varicocele Repair on IVF Outcomes in Male Factor Infertility), which is not on this map. Cited by 23 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
23citing papers in PubMed, 4 pooled it
7.7field-weighted citation impact, top 3% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

NCT03090438 naunknown statusnot on this mapstarted 2017, after this paper: background citation

The Effect of Preliminary Varicocele Repair on IVF Outcomes in Male Factor Infertility

TypeinterventionalSponsorShaare Zedek Medical CenterRan2017 to 2021Enrolled250ConditionsInfertility, Male, Varicocele, In Vitro FertilizationArmsVaricocele embolization
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

23 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 67 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Surgical or radiological treatment for varicoceles in subfertile men.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2021
    Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Guideline
  4. Varicocele.BMJ clinical evidence · 2015
    Pooled it
  5. Article
  6. Review
  7. Article
  8. Review
  9. Review
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Article
  13. Sperm DNA Fragmentation: A New Guideline for Clinicians.The world journal of men's health · 2020
    Review
  14. Article
  15. Article
  16. Observational
  17. Article
  18. Review
  19. Effect of varicocelectomy on male infertility.Korean journal of urology · 2014
    Review
  20. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 5 institutions in 2 countries.

Kyu Hyun KimDepartment of Urology, Severance Hospital, Urological Science Institute, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Joo Yong Lee
Dong Hyuk Kang
Hyungmin Lee
Ju Tae Seo
Kang Su Cho
Severance Hospital · KRCenters for Disease Control and Prevention · USCheil General Hospital and Women's Healthcare Center · KRGongju National Hospital · KRYonsei University · KR

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

purposeTo elucidate the impact of surgical varicocele repair on the pregnancy rate through new meta-analyses of randomized clinical trials that compared surgical varicocele repair and observation. MATERIALS AND

methodsThe PubMed and Embase online databases were searched for studies released before December 2012. References were manually reviewed, and two researchers independently extracted the data. To assess the quality of the studies, the Cochrane risk of bias as a quality assessment tool for randomized controlled trials was applied.

resultsSeven randomized clinical trials were included in our meta-analyses, all of which compared pregnancy outcomes between surgical varicocele repair and control. There were differences in enrollment criteria among the studies. Four studies included patients with clinical varicocele, but three studies enrolled patients with subclinical varicocele. Meanwhile, four trials enrolled patients with impaired semen quality only, but the other three trials did not. In a meta-analysis of all seven trials, a forest plot using the random-effects model showed an odds ratio (OR) of 1.90 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.77 to 4.66; p=0.1621). However, for subanalysis of three studies that included patients with clinical varicocele and abnormal semen parameters, the fixed-effects pooled OR was significant (OR, 4.15; 95% CI, 2.31 to 7.45; p<0.001), favoring varicocelectomy.

conclusionsVaricocelectomy for male subfertility is proven effective in men with clinical varicocele and impaired semen quality. Therefore, surgical repair should be offered as the first-line treatment of clinical varicocele in subfertile men.

Indexed as

InfertilityMeta-analysisTreatment outcomeVaricocele

Identifiers

PMID24175046
PMCPMC3806996
OpenAlexW2142572410

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.