The Utility of Sperm Cryopreservation at the Time of Vasectomy Reversal.
- 2021
CONCLUSIONS: Of those patients who experienced vasectomy reversal failure, 50% elected to use cryopreserved sperm that had been procured at the time of initial reversal. Given potential for early or late failure, cryopreservation of sperm at the time of vasectomy reversal should be routinely offered as a means of avoiding the added expense and potential morbidity of future surgical sperm retrieval. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From April 2016 through December 2018, 26 men underwent vasectomy reversal. Sperm cryopreservation is routinely offered at the time of vasectomy reversal at our institution. We sought to assess utilization of cryopreserved sperm by those men with early or late failure. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the utility of sperm cryopreservation at the time of vasectomy reversal. RESULTS: Of 26 patients presenting for vasectomy reversal (VR), 22 elected to cryopreserve sperm (85%); sperm were obtained for freezing from the vasal fluid (n=7), epididymal fluid (n=3), or via testicular biopsy (n=12). Three patients were lost to follow-up post-operatively. Of the 23 who presented for post-procedure follow-up, 19 either had semen analyses (SAs) with motile sperm or a live birth (83% success rate). There were 4 early failures and 2 late failures; all patients with failures had elected to cryopreserve sperm at the time of initial reversal. Three of the six individuals (50%) with vasectomy reversal failure elected to use cryopreserved sperm for IVF/ICSI, with two of these (67%) resulting in live births.