MADRID, 20 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Vasectomies are far less likely to cause complications than expected, according to a new study led by researchers at the Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in the UK, reviewing the results of more than 90,000 vasectomies performed over 15 years.
The study, presented at the European Association of Urology (EAU) Congress in Milan, Italy, shows that existing brochures explaining possible complications to patients are based on outdated figures, according to its authors.
Approximately 11,000 vasectomy operations are performed in the UK each year, the majority in primary care centers run by specialist general practitioners.
The Association of Primary Care Surgeons, led by Dr. Gareth James, collected data on 94,082 vasectomies between 2006 and 2021, mostly through patient questionnaires; one completed on the day of surgery and the second sent to patients four months after the operation. More than 80% (about 77,000) of the patients filled out the initial questionnaire and slightly less than 40% (36,500) the second.
Julian Peacock, Chief Registrar at Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, who led the review along with John Henderson, Consultant Urological Surgeon, stresses that “this large dataset has never been used before and has never been independently analysed, and doing so It has allowed us to update standard complication rates, some of which dated back to the 1980s.”
For example, one of the major complications of vasectomy is chronic scrotal pain, which, according to the British Association of Urological Surgeons (BAUS) patient information leaflet on vasectomies, affects “up to 5% of all patients “. Reviewing the most recent data, the team found that the rate was in fact as low as 0.12% of patients.
Peacock says, “The odds for chronic scrotal pain can be very daunting, especially since it’s such a difficult condition to treat. So we’re hoping this more up-to-date rate gives a better picture of the small chance of this happening.”
The chances of postoperative infection and hematoma (when blood forms a clot in the scrotal tissue) were also reviewed. Infection rates (understood as any case or condition that has been treated with antibiotics) are between 2% and 10% of patients in BAUS statistics, but the team found they were closer to 1.3%. .
The bruising rate in patients is 2-10% in BAUS statistics, but updated information suggests it could be 1.4%.
Vasectomy failure rates were available for 70,947 patients. The early failure rate, that is, the detection of motile spermatozoa at 3 months, was slightly higher than that cited above, since it occurred in 360 patients (0.5%), compared to 0.4% for BAUS. Late failure, which occurs when the cut ends of the vas deferens come together, occurred in only 10 patients (0.014%), compared to 0.05% in BAUS.
Peacock recalls that “vasectomy is a very reliable and safe method of contraception. These numbers could encourage more men to undergo the intervention, so we hope that our research will be incorporated into guidelines that provide information for advice and previous leaflets to vasectomy.”
For her part, Dr. Marij Dinkelman-Smit, Assistant Professor of Urology at the Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam (Netherlands) and member of the EAU’s Andrological Urology section, points out that “although the standard information from other countries may be more up to date, however it is very helpful for urologists to see large data sets of patient perspectives on this common procedure.”
