{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,12]],"date-time":"2025-10-12T02:13:53Z","timestamp":1760235233768,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":26,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"16","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,8,9]],"date-time":"2021-08-09T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1628467200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001871","name":"Funda\u00e7\u00e3o para a Ci\u00eancia e a Tecnologia","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["HealthyAging 2020"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["HealthyAging 2020"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001871","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["JCM"],"abstract":"<jats:p>We carried out a retrospective analysis of infertile couple data using several methodologies and data analysis techniques, including the application of a novel data mining approach for analyzing varicocele treatment outcomes. The aim of this work was to characterize embolized varicocele patients by ascertaining the improvement of some of their clinical features, predicting the success of treatment via pregnancy outcomes, and identifying data patterns that can contribute to both ongoing varicocele research and the more effective management of patients treated for varicocele. We retrospectively surveyed the data of 293 consenting couples undergoing infertility treatment with male varicocele embolization over a 10-year period, and sperm samples were collected before and at 3, 6, and 12 months after varicocele embolization treatment and analyzed with World Health Organization parameters\u2014varicocele severity grades were assessed with medical assessment and scrotal ultrasound, patient personal information (e.g., age, lifestyle, and embolization complications) was collected with clinical inquiries, and varicocele embolization success was measured through pregnancy outcomes. Varicocele embolization significantly improved sperm concentration, motility, and morphology mean values, as well as sperm chromatin integrity. Following this study, we can predict that a male patient without a high varicocele severity grade (with grade I or II) has a 70.83% chance of conceiving after embolization treatment if his partners\u2019 age is between 24 and 33 with an accuracy of 70.59%. Furthermore, male patients successful in achieving pregnancy following embolization are mostly characterized by having a normal sperm progressive motility before treatment, a normal sperm concentration after treatment, a moderate to low varicocele severity grade, and not working in a putatively hazardous environment.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/jcm10163503","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,8,9]],"date-time":"2021-08-09T09:03:53Z","timestamp":1628499833000},"page":"3503","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":8,"title":["Using Data Mining to Assist in Predicting Reproductive Outcomes Following Varicocele Embolization"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"10","author":[{"given":"Ana Paula","family":"Sousa","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Biology of Reproduction & Stem Cell Group, CNC-Center for Neuroscience and Cell Biology, CIBB, University of Coimbra, Azinhaga de Santa Comba, Celas, 3004-504 Coimbra, Portugal"},{"name":"Reproductive Medicine Unit, Centro Hospitalar e Universit\u00e1rio de Coimbra, Pr. Prof Mota Pinto, 3004-561 Coimbra, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5819-9193","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Judith","family":"Santos-Pereira","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Polytechnic of Coimbra, ISEC-Instituto Superior de Engenharia de Coimbra, R. Pedro Nunes, 3030-199 Coimbra, Portugal"}]},{"given":"Maria Jos\u00e9","family":"Freire","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Reproductive Medicine Unit, Centro Hospitalar e Universit\u00e1rio de Coimbra, Pr. Prof Mota Pinto, 3004-561 Coimbra, Portugal"},{"name":"Urology Unit, Centro Hospitalar e Universit\u00e1rio de Coimbra, Pr. Prof Mota Pinto, 3004-561 Coimbra, Portugal"}]},{"given":"Belmiro","family":"Parada","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Reproductive Medicine Unit, Centro Hospitalar e Universit\u00e1rio de Coimbra, Pr. Prof Mota Pinto, 3004-561 Coimbra, Portugal"},{"name":"Urology Unit, Centro Hospitalar e Universit\u00e1rio de Coimbra, Pr. Prof Mota Pinto, 3004-561 Coimbra, Portugal"},{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra, Azinhaga de Santa Comba, Celas, 3000-548 Coimbra, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7423-2996","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Teresa","family":"Almeida-Santos","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Biology of Reproduction & Stem Cell Group, CNC-Center for Neuroscience and Cell Biology, CIBB, University of Coimbra, Azinhaga de Santa Comba, Celas, 3004-504 Coimbra, Portugal"},{"name":"Reproductive Medicine Unit, Centro Hospitalar e Universit\u00e1rio de Coimbra, Pr. Prof Mota Pinto, 3004-561 Coimbra, Portugal"},{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra, Azinhaga de Santa Comba, Celas, 3000-548 Coimbra, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9660-2011","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jorge","family":"Bernardino","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Polytechnic of Coimbra, ISEC-Instituto Superior de Engenharia de Coimbra, R. Pedro Nunes, 3030-199 Coimbra, Portugal"},{"name":"Centre for Informatics and Systems, University of Coimbra, Polo II, Pinhal de Marrocos, 3030-290 Coimbra, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1172-4018","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jo\u00e3o","family":"Ramalho-Santos","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Biology of Reproduction & Stem Cell Group, CNC-Center for Neuroscience and Cell Biology, CIBB, University of Coimbra, Azinhaga de Santa Comba, Celas, 3004-504 Coimbra, Portugal"},{"name":"Department of Life Sciences, University of Coimbra, Cal\u00e7ada Martim de Freitas, 3000-456 Coimbra, Portugal"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,8,9]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"4068174","article-title":"Two Case Reports of Varicocele Rupture during Sexual Intercourse and Review of the Literature","volume":"2018","author":"Arif","year":"2018","journal-title":"Case Rep. 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