Incidence of varicocele in normal men and among men of different ages

Abstract

VARICOCELE may sometimes cause infertility; it may sometimes cause symptoms; it is rarely a sign of intra-abdominal cancer.¹A study of the frequency of varicocele in apparently normal men and of its incidence among men of different ages has therefore been made. <h3>Materials and Methods</h3> Varicocele and inguinal hernia, as well as testicular tumor, atrophy, or ectopia, were searched for with care by the same physician during general physical examination of 275 healthy white men. They were members of organized components of the Navy and Marine Corps reserves. Each man was normal in other respects and considered to be physically ready for combat service. Abstracts of clinical records of 583,283 patients were studied to ascertain ages at which operations for varicocele were likely to be performed. The patients had been admitted to 365 hospitals in the United States and Canada primarily for genitourinary disorders. The incidence of operations for