Association between Clinical and Ultrasonic Characteristics of Varicocele and Lower Extremity Varicose Vein in Men

Background The study investigated the association between lower extremity varicose veins in men and varicocele. Methods A total of 100 patients who presented to the Department of Vascular Surgery in the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University with the diagnosis of lower extremity varicose veins were included in the study group. A total of 100 adults without vascular disease were included as controls. The prevalence of varicocele between the study group and the control group was compared. We compared the prevalence of varicocele and the mean diameter of spermatic veins between the patients with and without reflux in the saphenofemoral junctions. We analyzed the association between the maximum spermatic vein diameter and the maximum diameter of lower extremity varicose veins in patients who had both lower extremity varicose vein and varicocele in the study group. According to their clinic signs, patients with lower extremity varicose veins were divided into C1–C6 by clinic sign grade of Clinical–Etiology–Anatomy–Pathophysiology (CEAP), and we investigated the trend of the incidence of varicocele and the mean diameter of spermatic veins in different grades. Results The patients with lower extremity varicose veins had a statistically significant (χ 2  = 20.05, P P  > 0.05, diameter P  > 0.05). We found a linear correlation between the maximum spermatic vein diameter and the maximum diameter of lower extremity varicose veins in the patients who had both lower extremity varicose veins and varicocele in the study group (coefficient of rank correlation r  = 0.4072, P 2  = 0.8798, P  > 0.05), and the mean diameter of spermatic vein also had no statistical trend in different grades ( F  = 1.59, P  > 0.05). Conclusions In conclusion, we demonstrated that the prevalence of varicocele is higher in patients with varicose veins in lower extremity than the patients without vascular diseases. The reason for the association between varicose vein in lower extremity and varicocele remains uncertain.