Enlarged veins can happen just about anywhere in the lower half of your body. Gravity takes its toll on your blood vessels that need to push blood back up to the heart; damaged veins may have a backflow of blood that makes the vein bigger. This is the issue behind varicose veins in the legs, for example.
You can also come up against a similar problem in your testicles. When you get an enlarged vein there, doctors call it a varicocele.
Sometimes, the enlarged testicular vein doesn’t cause an issue. Other times, it creates major problems like infertility. Experts estimate that 10%-20% of men with varicoceles have trouble conceiving.
If you’ve been having trouble getting a partner pregnant and you have the symptoms of a varicocele, visit us at Vascular & Interventional Associates. Our providers offer leading-edge, minimally invasive varicoceles treatment to men throughout northern Kentucky and the Cincinnati, Ohio, area.
In each scrotum — the bag of skin that holds each testicle — you have a complex network of veins. The pampiniform plexus drains oxygen-depleted blood from your testicles. This network of small but important veins also plays a role in temperature regulation.
It’s their job to cool down the blood before it reaches your testicles. Sperm production is sensitive to temperature changes.
When veins within the pampiniform plexus network become enlarged, that heat exchange mechanism breaks down. Experts believe that this throws off the body’s ability to produce sperm at the count and quality needed to conceive.
If you have a varicocele and you and your partner are having trouble getting pregnant, we offer a treatment that may help.
Addressing enlarged veins in your scrotum doesn’t have to involve major surgery. Our team at Vascular & Interventional Associates offers a minimally invasive option called embolization.
That treatment typically takes us about 30 minutes. Before we start, we numb any areas involved in the procedure. Then, we create a tiny incision in your neck or groin, depending on what provides us the best access to the problem veins.
Using imaging technology that allows us to see what we’re doing inside your body, we go through that tiny incision to seal off the problem vein. This is an outpatient procedure, and you go home the same day.
You may have some bruising or swelling at the injection site, but it should improve in a matter of days. Most men get back to their usual activities within a few days, too.
Don’t let problem veins stand between you and the family you want. To explore varicocele embolization to address infertility, make an appointment with our team at Vascular & Interventional Associates. Call the office in Crestview Hills, Kentucky, or request an appointment online today.
