A man who undergoes a vasectomy can have it successfully reversed–and father a child–15 years or more later.
In an analysis of 213 men who underwent surgical reversals within 15 years of a vasectomy, doctors at New York Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center found that 90 percent began producing sperm again.
The procedures, all performed by Dr. Marc Goldstein from 1984 to 2001, were randomly selected.
When the study subjects were followed through two years of attempts to father a child, the average pregnancy rate was 84 percent. That compares with rates of 50 to 60 percent in previous published studies of men who underwent vasectomy reversals.
The improved success rates stem from the development of advanced microsurgical techniques now used to reconnect the sperm-carrying vas deferens tubes, said Goldstein, surgeon in chief of male reproductive medicine and surgery.
