Abstract

Varicocele is one of the key causes of male infertility. It is a condition that needs more research regarding diagnosis and treatment. Although varicocelectomy is the most sought after option for treatment, it comes with drawbacks such as invasion, recurrence, testicular atropy and unreliability. One of the easier ways patients with varicocele prefer is Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) wherein the cost and risk involved are higher. Its repetitive invasion and ethical issues are also a concern. Antioxidant therapy, on the other hand, has proven to have benefits with minimum side effects and is being explored as an alternate option due to increasing oxidative-stress induced infertility. In this article, we have reviewed the literature concerning antioxidants such as bioflavonoids, carnitines, selenium, vitamin C, vitamin E, kallikrein, coenzyme Q10, cinnoxicam, zinc and folic acid which are used for managing the condition ofvaricocele. It was seen that these antioxidants proved to be effective in improving sperm parameters and antioxidant levels which are major causes of infertility. Further, some antioxidants such as daflon, vitamin C, and vitamin E act as good adjuvant alongside varicocelectomy. Despite its potential, there is no concrete evidence to recommend antioxidants as a routine therapy or for replacing surgery. Hence, as a future perspective, there is a need to conduct larger studies backed with pregnancy outcome reports to confidently recommend antioxidant therapy as an alternative.