Objective: To observe the clinical effect of Yishen Tongluo Recipe (YTR) combined with minimally invasive surgery (MIS) in the treatment of varicocele-associated asthenospermia (of the kidney-deficiency and collateral-obstruction type).
Methods: We randomly divided 116 patients with varicocele-associated asthenospermia and up to the inclusion criteria into three groups and treated them by YTR combined with MIS (low spermatic vein ligation at the external inguinal ring orifice under the microscope) (the YTR+MIS group, n = 39), YTR alone (the YTR group, n = 38), or MIS alone (the MIS group, n = 39). At 12 weeks after treatment, we compared the total effectiveness rate, the percentage of progressively motile sperm (PMS), sperm straight line velocity (VSL), sperm DNA fragmentation index (DFI) and symptoms among the three groups of patients.
Results: After treatment, the total effectiveness rate was significantly higher in the YTR+MIS than in the YTR and the MIS group (89.74% vs 63.16% and 64.10%, P < 0.05), and so were the percentage of PMS (31.67 ± 3.93 vs 24.48 ± 3.15 and 25.57 ± 3.37, P < 0.05) and VSL (［30.19 ± 5.32］ vs ［27.19 ± 5.48］ and ［27.55 ± 5.24］ μm/s, P < 0.05), but the DFI was remarkably lower in the former than in the latter two groups (11.25 ± 8.27 vs 15.87 ± 5.45 and 15.26 ± 4.36, P < 0.05). The symptoms were improved more significantly in the YTR+MIS than in the YTR and MIS groups (P < 0.05).
Conclusions: Yishen Tongluo Recipe combined with minimally invasive surgery, as an effective and safe strategy, can significantly improve sperm quality and sperm DNA integrity in patients with varicocele-associated asthenospermia.
Keywords: asthenospermia; minimally invasive surgery; varicocele; Yishen Tongluo Recipe.