The balloon repair procedure only requires local anesthesia and is performed on an outpatient basis. The complications from balloon surgery are more serious than with conventional surgery. The balloon can be lodged in the kidney vein which will block the blood flow to the kidney. The balloon can also float loose and lodge in the lung, producing a life-threatening blood clot. Balloon repair also takes longer to perform - 90 minutes as opposed to 30 minutes for other procedures.
Varicoceles recur in about ten to fifteen percent of balloon repairs.
IUI introduces the washed, processed sperm of the male into the uterus of his partner in the hopes of achieving pregnancy. The sperm is washed free of seminal fluid and the most healthy and motile sperm are concentrated. This allows malformed and dead sperm to be removed from the sample. The processed sample is then placed into the woman's uterus, bypassing the hazards of her reproductive tract, such as hostile cervical mucus. Men with an untreated varicocele have a lower sperm count and, therefore, they will need the few number of normal, healthy sperm they have to be placed as close as possible to the woman's egg.