Comparison of venous blood gas levels between pampiniform plexus and brachial vein in patients with varicocele

SUMMARYCOMPARISON OF VENOUS BLOOD GAS LEVELS BETWEEN PAMPINIFORMPLEXUS AND BRACHIAL VEIN IN PATIENTS WITH VARICOCELEPURPOSE: Varicocele is most correctable cause of the male infertility andpathophysiology of it could not have been elucidated up to date. In this study,comparing blood gas levels in dilated pampiniform plexus and brachial vein, weaimed to determine whether there were some changes in the oxygenation andmetabolism of testis tissue in patients with varicocele. According to ourknowledge, there is no study in the literature that compares blood gas levels asin our study.MATHERIALS AND METHODS: Of the patients who admitted tooutpatients department of Urology and underwent varicocelectomy operationdue to varicocele, 52 were enrolled in the study. During varicocelectomy venousblood samples were taken from most dilated vein of the pampiniform plexusand simultaneously from brachial vein. In this samples pH, lactate, pO2, SO2,pCO2, HCO3- values were measured and mean values of these venousparameters were compared statistically. P < 0,05 was accepted as significant.RESULTS: The mean age of the study patients was found as 24,4 (17 -49) years. There was not any systemic disease in no patient. Of the patients 43(82,7 %) had left varicocele only, 8 (15,4 %) had bilaterally varicocele and 1(1,9 %) had right varicocele only. While there were no statistically significantdifferences between the pH, pO2 and SO2 levels of venous samples frombrachial vein and pampiniform plexus. However pCO2 and HCO3- levels weresignificantly lower and lactate level was significantly higher in pampiniformplexus than in brachial vein. In spite of these significant differences, meanvalues measured in venous blood samples from pampiniform plexus andbrachial vein were in normal laboratory ranges.43CONCLUSIONS: Although the results of this study showed that varicocelecaused statistically significant decreases in the rate of oxygen consumption andmetabolism level in the testis tissue compared with the peripheral tissues,values obtained from the venous sample of pampiniform plexus were normalranges. Therefore diminished oxygen consumption and metabolism can notexplain the negative effects of varicocele on testis tissue. This topic remains tobe elucidated in later studies.Key words: Varicocele, varicocelectomy, blood gas44