Macroscopic vasovasostomy

Abstract

Ninety-six males underwent vasovasostomy from 1976-1978. Seventy-six of 83 patients who returned for a semen analysis demonstrated sperm in the ejaculate for a 92% surgical patency rate. Thirty-two of 71 eligible patients initiated a pregnancy for a functional success rate of 45%. A statistically significant correlation was found between postoperative motility and pregnancy rate but none between sperm count and pregnancy rate.

PIP: Between 1976 and 1978, 96 patients underwent vasovasostomy at the Stanford University Medical Center's Division of Urology. The patients ranged in age from 22 to 44 at the time of the vasectomy and from 27 to 62 at the time of the reversal procedure. The main reason for the reversal was divorce and remarriage. 57% had an interval of less than 5 years from vasectomy to reversal, over 43% had an interval over 5 years with 11% having an interval over 10 years. The vasovasostomy procedure is described. 76 of the 83 who returned for a semen analysis demonstrated sperm in the ejaculate for a 92% surgical patency rate. 32 of the 71 patients who tried were able to initiate a pregnancy for a functional success rate of 45%. While there was no correlation between postreversal sperm count and pregnancy rate, there was a statistical correlation between sperm motility and pregnancy rate. In addition, the pregnancy rate for men with a less than 10-year interval between vasectomy and reversal was 50% while the rate for those patients with a longer interval was only 11%, a not statistically significant but certainly suggestive fact.