Varicocele In Paediatric Age: Is The Scientific Community On The Correct Pathway?

Varicocele is the primary cause of male infertility and the interests of research about varicocele have changed in the last years. The aim of the study was to analyse how topics of interests about varicocele have changed in the last two decades. Literature about paediatric varicocele between 2000 and 2018 was reviewed, and the subjects of the articles were analysed, selecting the main and secondary topics of each article. A study of their prevalence over the years was performed. In the research, 625 articles were found but only 169 provided data in the paediatric age. The total percentage of exclusively paediatric works was 27.04%, being above average in Europe, North and South America. The main subject both for Europe and North America was surgical technique, while for Asia it was videolaparoscopy. The main issue in South America was fertility; Africa and Oceania do not have enough publications to make statistics. Paediatric articles account for less than one-third of overall articles. The first interest of research is surgical technique. In Europe, the topics seem to exclude fertility potential.