We have read the Letter to the Editor by Demirer and colleagues with great interest.1 We would first like to thank the authors for their interest in and contribution to our work.
Interleukin (IL)-1, IL6, IL-8 and TNF-α, all cytokines that are active in infection and inflammation, are reported to possibly play a role in the etiology of male infertility and with potential diagnostic use in such pathologies.2–6 However, we did not come across any study reporting a role in varicocele pathophysiology. MPV values have been reported to be high during the active period of inflammatory conditions (ankylosing spondylitis, rheumatoid arthritis), decreasing to normal after treatment.7 This supports a relationship between MPV and inflammation. However, varicocele is mainly a vascular pathology with endothelial dysfunction as the main pathogenetic factor.8 We believe any relationship can be better demonstrated in a study evaluating inflammation markers (IL-1, IL-6, IL-8 and TNF-α) together with MPV.
Our study is significant as it is the first in the literature on this subject and we believe studies on larger series are required as stated in our conclusions.
Footnotes
Competing interests: The authors all declare no competing financial or personal interests.
References
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