A simple, minimally invasive outpatient procedure used to treat varicoceles can improve sperm function and boost male fertility levels, a study has found.

Researchers from the University of Bonn Medical School, Germany, demonstrated that "venous embolization, a simple treatment using a catheter through the groin, can help to improve sperm function in infertile men".

Until recently, physicians would treat patients with problematic varicoceles with open surgery to remove the affected blood vessel.

The study, published in the August issue of Radiology, involved 223 infertile men aged between 18 and 50 who had been diagnosed with at least one varicocele and who subsequently underwent embolization.

Follow up data for 173 of the patients, three months after the procedure, showed that the average sperm motility and sperm count had been significantly improved.

And six months later, 45 couples (26 per cent of the 173 followed up), were able to conceive.

Lead author of the report Dr Sebastian Flacke explained: "With the patients' improved sperm function, more than one-quarter of their healthy partners were able to become pregnant."

Figures from the National Institutes of Health suggest that the condition is most prevalent in young men between the ages of 15 and 25.

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