Comparison between Microsurgical Varicocelectomy with and without Testicular Delivery for Treatment of Varicocele: An Updated Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Table 4

Comparison with other similar meta-analyses.

Items	Liao et al. [12]	Song et al. [13]	Current study
Publication year	2019	2019	2023
Included studies	4 RCTs and 3 cohort studies	5 RCTs and 3 cohort studies	10 RCTs and 7 cohort studies
Included the number of patients	993	1,139	2,254
Surgical approach	Subinguinal	Subinguinal/inguinal	Subinguinal/inguinal
Whether included preoperative semen parameters and testosterone levels	Yes	No	No
Whether included subgroup analysis	No	Yes	Yes
Whether included data for different follow-up times	No	Yes	Yes
Kinds of postoperative complications	Unknown	4	5
Kinds of semen parameters	3	5	5
Whether there was grade evaluation on evidence	Yes	Yes	Yes
Whether there were publication biases	No	No	No
Whether there was inconsistency among analyses	Yes	Little, but acceptable	No
Evidence quality	Low	Low to moderate	Moderate to high

Note: RCT, randomized controlled trial.