Vasectomy histology: Is it still useful?

Objectives: To determine if histological evaluation of the vasa is useful when post-vasectomy semen analysis (PVSA) compliance is low and to determine whether compliance could be predicted.

Methods: A retrospective evaluation of patients undergoing vasectomy between 2018 and 2022 was undertaken. A comparison of the PVSA between three vasa histological categorisations was made: complete divisions, incomplete division(s), absent vas(a). A multivariate model was constructed to predict PVSA compliance.

Results: From 388 patients, 191 (49.2%) undertook PVSA. Four patients had a revision of vasectomy. On 3 occasions this was due to the histology findings and once from semen analysis with normal histology. There was no significant difference in the number of azoospermic samples (95.4% vs 91.2%, ns), of samples with presence of Rare Non-Motile Sperm (RNMS) (2.6% vs 8.8%, ns) and those with sperm present (2.0 vs 0%, ns), between patients with complete division of the vasa on both sides and those with incomplete division on one side respectively. There was no difference in patient characteristics between those who complied with PVSA and those who did not.

Conclusions: This paper suggests that there is a role for histological evaluation of the vasa when PVSA compliance is poor. Incompletely divided vasa on histology are not associated with an adverse PVSA.