An Observation on Sperm Disappearance from the Ejaculate Following Vasectomy

Park, Chung Gil; Suh, Sung Taik

Abstract

Vasectomy is one of the accepted simple procedure as a contraceptive method. However, there have been no reliable reports on the rate of sperm disappearance from the ejaculate following vasectomy. Rieser found the 14 of the 21 patients with follow-up semen studies required an average of 8 weeks to be azoospermic, and Freund and Davis described that sperm free semen was noted after 6 to 10 ejaculations following bilateral vasectomy. In order to determine the exact end point in terms of the frequency of ejaculations after vasectomy to be sperm free in the ejaculate, a clinical observation was made on the 50 vasectomized patients for the last 3 years. Bilateral vasectomy was performed through a midline incision in the scrotal raphe under local anesthesia (2% procaine). Each semen specimen was collected by coitus using condom. The results obtained were as follows; l) The fourth decade was the most prevalent age group to have had vasectomy(44 cases). The mean number of children was 3. 3 (male 2.2, female 1.1). The 25 patients (38.5%) had two sons and a daughter, and there were no patients without a son. 2) The postoperative first specimen was obtained in all of the 50 cases, the second in 35, the third in 27. the fourth in 20, the fifth in 15, the sixth in 10, the seventh in 3, and the eighth in only one. 3) The meat volume of the semen was not varied with the frequency of ejaculations. The average number of the spermatozoa on the first ejaculate following vasectomy was 43 millions, 23 millions on the second, 16 millions on the third, and 2 millions on the fourth. 4) On the rate of sperm free in the ejaculates in terms of the number of the ejaculations, 7.4 per cent became azoospermic on the third, 20 per cent on the fourth, 33 per cent on the fifth, 60 per cent on the sixth, and 67 per cent on the seventh ejaculation.