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Purpose: There are limited data about the effectiveness of surgery in patients with painful varicocele. We report a retrospective study done for the follow up on all varicocele high ligations performed for pain to evaluate the effectiveness of the operations., Materials and Methods: The patients who were all physically active workers and who underwent high inguinal ligation of varicocele for pain from January 1995 to January 2000, were invited for interviews. Their charts were reviewed to document patient age, grade and location of varicocele, duration and quality of pain, response to conservative treatment. All patients who could be contacted were interviewed for resolution of pain and complications, their physical examinations were made., Results: 87 of 140 (62.1%) patients were available for the follow up. Median patient age was 26 (15 to 34) years old. The varicocele was on the left side in 82 patients and bilateral in 5. The pain was dull in 42, throbbing in 25, sharp in 6 and as a pulling sensation in 14. The longest conservative therapy given in the literature failed in all patients. Varicocele grades were as follows: Grade I in 17, Grade II in 34 and Grade III in 36 patients. High inguinal ligation was used in all patients. 72 (82.8%) patients reported complete resolution, 8 (9.2%) patients reported partial response, 7 (8%) patients had persistant pain., Conclusions: High inguinal ligation is effective in the treatment of painful varicocele in highly selected patients. Prospective randomized studies are needed comparing surgical and conservative treatments.

Aim: Stents and catheters are widely used in urology. In our study the frequency of double J stent (DJS) colonization and stent associated bacteriuria is investigated., Materials and Methods: Between June 2000-April 2001, 61 patients (17-72 years old) to whom DJ stenting was done (5 of them bilateral) were included in this study. Stone extraction/lithotripsy, extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy (ESWL), open urolithiazis surgery and hydronephrosis were the indications. Sterile urine samples were obtained prior to stenting. Patients were clinically followed and after the treatment DJ stents were removed after having urinary cultures via the cystoscope. DJS cultures were also made., Results: DJS indwelling times were between 15-90 days (52.5 +/- 8.6). In 3 female, 8 male totally 11 patients bacterial colonizations were observed. In 10 of them both stent and urinary cultures were positive, and showed identical microorganisms; 80% E. Coli, 10% E. Coli+ Candida, 10% Klebsiella., Conclusions: Our infection rate of DJS and urine is 18% which is not very high. Routine DJS cultures are not needed as the same microorganisms grow in urine cultures. No age or sex relation to the infections is found. Antibiotic prophylaxis is effective in preventing clinically ouvert infectious diseases.