[snowspedie]

My DH was diagnosed with enlarged varioceles. The infertility specialist we have seen said that the most promising solution would be for DH to have surgery to correct the varioceles. He said that IVF would have to be with ICSI and that it would be less likely to work. Has anyone else's DH had the surgery? Did it improve your chances? Or did you try ICSI? Did it work?

[designerbaby]

we have similar problem Our MD for DH is Dr. Marty BAtstuba of san diego. He suggested we do TESSA---MESSA for ISCI. It is where they open up male testicle and use super high powered microscope to find spermies. He suggested we try this prior to v-repair surgery and then have to wait six months to a year to see if sperm improves. My age 37 is also a factor. We do not want to wait too long to get my DH sperm. Get a second opinion. REsearch TESA - MESA and good luck.


E=snowspedie]My DH was diagnosed with enlarged varioceles. The infertility specialist we have seen said that the most promising solution would be for DH to have surgery to correct the varioceles. He said that IVF would have to be with ICSI and that it would be less likely to work. Has anyone else's DH had the surgery? Did it improve your chances? Or did you try ICSI? Did it work?[/quote]

[snowspedie]

Thanks! I'll look into that.

[designerbaby]

http://www.martinbastuba.com/practice.html

http://www.malefertility.md/

I forgot to give you the web sites for Dr. Bastuba. He is really up to date on the male issues. Keep in touch.

Originally Posted by snowspedie

Thanks! I'll look into that.

[rachel dutt]

HI

MY hubby had variciocele surgery 2yrs ago the doc said it would improve and that we might be able to conceive naturally. WRONG
WE tried for 1 year NOTHING. we didnt notice much its your choice.
NOW we tring ivf/icsi this is my 2nd ivf.
GOOD LUCK IN WHATEVER YOU CHOOSE.

[slobin]

I don't understand why doing ICSI with IVF wouldn't be as effective as for a man without a varicocele? Is this b/c the sperm have already been damaged by the excess heat (due to varicocele) in the testicle? It seems like if they could extract sperm from the testicle and then choose a few healthy ones to inject into the egg this would bypass the problem. Just thinking out loud. My DH has a very mild varicocele which at the beginning of our IF we thought was the problem, but it turns out it's not b/c we repeated the SA several times and they've all been great. But in the beginning I did tons of research on the surgery, and I have to say it's a gamble b/c it does seem like many invest in it only to not get pg or not see significant improvements in the sperm. Don't mean to be discouraging, but I have seen a lot of posts to this effect. I would inquire more about ICSI as it seems that it would circumvent the problem.

[marinacj]

when ur DH was diagnosed w/ varicocele did he get a sperm analysis and had no or lottle sperm then they tested him for varicocele. my DH was diagnosed w/ no sperm and I think that is what he has, but i need to know if ur DH had no or little sperm

[rcgomez2003]

the first dr that my DH and i went to said the same thing. we got a 2nd opinion, thank goodness. he had the MESA/TESE and now we have lots of little swimmers, and are scheduled for ICSI/IVF in december. i would also recommend getting a second opinion. our RE said that the VR is way out of date, and he should know, he is a pioneer in fertility in the midwest. good luck!!!

[designerbaby]

my DH had 4 sperm total they found with about 10 ejac tests and 4 biopsies--where they take a needle into his testicle. Now he has zero. So...it looks like our infertility is getting worse over the last two years. My DH has only one testicle due to problems when he was a child. Our Dr. Bastuba has also detected a variocle and has really encouraged us to do ISCI-IVF with TESA-MESA the same day they retrieve my eggs. Dr. Bastuba seems to think he can find baby spermies and help them grow. We have been upping our nutrition for six months to prep our bodies for this proceedure. Of course all the docs want us to also use donor sperm so they can further analyze if my eggs will hatch with another or if I'm a dud too. But we are reluctant to create life, just for analysis. I wish you lots of luck. I encouage you to seek many opinions, because you learn so much when you talk to different doctors.

[kathryn71]

I just wrote some of this off line to a friend, but thought it may be helpful.

My husband has no sperm, or no semen to speak of. We sort of "visually diagnosed" his issue.


So my husband had surgery. Since we only want to have one more child, instead of fixing the problem, which requires microsurgery, they just extracted sperm with a needle. So it was a success.

However, we had some very intense discussions about how far the surgery would go. First they insert a needle. That's ideal. But our Dr. would have gone to the next stage, which is "bi-valving". This sounds crude, but the doctor said, "it's when we open the testile like a book and go page by page, looking for sperm."

I burst into tears in the doctors office, because that sounded like a horror show. At the end of the day, we were willing to do the needle on both testes, but only ONE could be bi-valved, as there is risk of severe damage to the testicle.

One bad thing: they only took 2 vials of sperm. So we may only be able to do 2 cycles. We have no idea why they did 2 vials instead of 3.

Kathryn

[JenD]

Hey Kathyrn,
First of all I am wishing you a BFP!!!

Second, I had a question..was the testicular sperm used for your IVF motile or immotile? Did he have the retrieval on the same day as you?

[inhishands]

hello,
first wishing you a BFP hopefully soon~ second, my Dh has varicocele surgery novembe 2, and last week we got the results... and it DID work. His SA prior to surgery was 3 million, low everything! My RE called and said he is now considered normal. Everthing improved and its only 2 monts since.. and we were told the real number wont be until 4 to 6 months post op so we still have some few monhsto wait... but hopefully the number will keep climbing... What ever you and DH decide good luck to you both!!!
Chrissy

[kathryn71]

Hi JenD,

How are things going with you. Yes, we were told that the sperm were swimming. We froze the sperm for several months, and I'm looking "more and more" pregnant with these home pregnancy tests (the line is getting darker).

So it seemed to work for us.

The surgeries are so specialized, we could never do it at the same location. We could also never even get the sperm from one place to another within the hour.

good luck with all the stuff, everyone.

K

[JenD]

Great news Kathryn. Thanks for the info. Be sure to post when it is official!

[indianagirl]

My friend's husband had the surgery...it worked...two times, two babies. It does work but I agree that you should get a second opinion. You want to know your options.