Varicocele embolization: Caring for your child at home after the procedure

Your child has had a varicocele embolization. The information on this page explains how to care for your child at home after the procedure, and when to call for help.

Discharge from the hospital

Most children who have a varicocele embolization go home the same day.

Dressing care

Your child will have a dressing or bandage over the site of the procedure (the neck or the groin). You can take the dressing off 24 hours after the procedure.

If the dressing gets wet or dirty, take it off and replace it with a clean adhesive bandage. Your child may also have a bruise on the neck or groin, which can take up to 10 days to go away.

Bathing

Your child may have a bath or shower the day after the procedure.

Meals

If your child is feeling well enough after the anesthetic, they can return to eating what they normally eat. It is also important to encourage your child to drink plenty of fluids for 48 hours after the procedure.

Pain relief

If needed, give your child acetaminophen for pain. Do not give your child any medicines that will thin the blood, such as acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) or ibuprofen, without checking with a nurse or your child's doctor first.

Activity

After the procedure, your child will need to stay home from school or day care, and avoid physical activity for the first 24 hours. Your child may return to school 24 hours after the procedure, with restricted activity. This includes walking. Your child should avoid all physical activities for six full weeks. These include:

• activities played during gym class
• contact sports
• gymnastics
• diving/swimming
• bicycle riding
• rollerblading
• hockey
• soccer
• skiing
• horseback riding

Clinic visits after the varicocele embolization

• Following the procedure, your child will have a follow-up visit with their urologist.
• At six months, your child will have an ultrasound and a follow-up visit with the interventional radiologist.

When to see a doctor

Phone the Image Guided Therapy (IGT) clinic, your child’s urologist, or go to the nearest Emergency Department right away, if your child has any of the following:

• throwing up (vomiting) that does not stop
• severe pain and swelling in the neck or groin, where the catheter was inserted, or in the testicle
• bleeding or a growing bruise on the neck or groin
• dizziness and pale colour
• general weakness
• severe and sudden shortness of breath
• blood in the urine

At SickKids

If you have any concerns, call the Image Guided Therapy (IGT) clinic at (416) 813-7654 ext. 201804. Speak to the IGT clinic nurse during working hours or leave a non-urgent message.

If you have concerns and it is after working hours, see your family doctor or go to the nearest Emergency Department. You can also call the Hospital for Sick Children switchboard at (416) 813-7500 and ask them to page a member of your child’s health-care team or the interventional radiology fellow on call.