Abstract des Autors

Varicocele is the andrological pathology of greatest incidence (from 4% to 23% of general male population) and the most frequent cause of male infertility. Recent epidemiological studies have shown that medical examination for sport eligibility in athletes provides a critical screening opportunity for andrological diseases. Therefore specialists in sport medicine need to be capable of ascertaining the sport eligibility of athletes affected with varicocele. The lack of systematic organization of this subject together with the debated physiopathological correlation between varicocele and sport, as well as between varicocele and fertility, induced us to develop a flow chart (open to suggestions and modification) to be used by sport medicine specialists to determine eligibility in athletes affected with varicocele. Our general guidelines to face the problem of varicocele in athletes are: the guarantee of the continuation of athlete's training and sport activities, the care for athlete psycho-physical health. It's up to sport medicine doctors to request first level diagnostic procedures such as doppler sonography, echotomography and semen specimens and to give sport eligibility in the case of no varicocele or I and II degree varicocele, with no modifications of testis volume and semen quality. In all other cases eligibility would be certified after an andrological consultation (by an andrologist, an endocrinologist or an urologist) also in those cases where the specialist considers the athlete affected with varicocele as ineligible for sport activity (III degree varicocele and/or with testis and/or semen modifications). When the sports specialist and the andrologist agree on the incompatibility of varicocele with a certain sport eligibility should be six months to avoid interruption of the athletes activities and to permit therapy. In such cases the permanent presence of varicocele beyond six months would indicate sport ineligibility for the athlete. Verf.-Referat