The treatment of pediatric varicocele has recently been given a special importance due to clinical and experimental evidence of testicular atrophy and histological changes in 50% of homolateral and sometimes in contralateral testis. Those changes are progressive and similar to those in infertile adults with varicocele. Between 1st January 1990 and 31st December 1994, 41 boys (five to 15 years old--mean age 11.9 years) were presented for evaluation of primary varicocele at the Pediatric Surgery Department of Dona Estefânia Hospital. The varicocele was left sided in 39 boys, bilateral in one and another on the right, with a predominance of grade II. Forty patients underwent varicocelectomy, 31 (77%) by the Ivanisevìc technique. Varicocele recurred in four cases (10%). The authors discuss the results and make some considerations concerning the management of varicocele in children.