A Preliminary Study Of The Ultrasonic Elastography In Varicocele Patients

Objectives: Use the ultrasonic elastography (UE) with quantitative analysis technique to observethe influence of varicocele (VC) on the texture of bilateral testes and the relationship betweentexture differences and semen parameters.Methods:20healthy male volunteers and81infertile men with bilateral varicocele wereenrolled and examined by Hitachi HIVISION Preirus, the machine which with ultrasonicelastography and Strain Histogram Measurement System. According to the maximal internalspermatic vein diameter at rest and Valsaval maneuver,81infertile men were divided into threegroups: Varicocele I, Varicocele II, Varicocele III. Observed the UE feature between the healthtestes and varicocele testes, record the analysis indexes: strain mean value and the areapercentage of the blue color. At the same time, everyone have a semen analysis, spermconcentration and motility were recorded. To analysis the correlation between elastic strainindexes and VC degree, and the relationship between texture differences and semen parameters.Results:1.The MEAN value of VCIII group is higher than that of the healthy,VCI and VCIIgroups(P＜0.05). The AREA value of VCIII group is lower than that of the healthy,VCI andVCII groups(P＜0.05). The differences of MEAN value and AREA value between healthy groupand VCI,VCII group have no significant difference（P＞0.05）2.The correlative analysis showedthat MEAN value of the testes was significantly linked with AREA value(correlation coefficient-0.829,P=0.000),as the MEAN value increased, the AREA value decreased.3. There is no linearrelationship between quantitative analysis indexes and sperm parameters in the VC patients（P＞0.05）.Conclusion:1.The ultrasonic elastography (UE) with quantitative analysis technique canobjectively reflect changes in testes texture caused by VC.As the VC degree increase, the testesbecome more soft.2. The application of ultrasound elastography of quantitative analysis is notyet proved a correlation between the bilateral testicular texture differences and the degree ofsemen quality.