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Routine Histologic Confirmation Unnecessary in Performing Vasectomy
The American Urological Association, Inc.® (AUA) recommends that physicians in practice and that residency training programs no longer require histologic confirmation of the vas deferens as a measurement of vasectomy success. The finding of azoospermia after a bilateral vasectomy is the standard for success. The persistence of sperm in the semen after a bilateral vasectomy is a surgical failure regardless of a pathologic confirmation that two segments of the vas were removed.
The lack of clinical value makes the routine histologic evaluation of surgical specimens obtained by a surgeon experienced in performing vasectomies clinically unnecessary. The surgeon should decide whether a histologic evaluation is warranted.
The surgeon should document in the patient's record comprehensive preoperative counseling, careful patient selection, meticulous surgical technique and whether azoospermia was achieved in the postoperative semen.
Board of Directors, February 1998
Board of Directors, February 2003 (Reaffirmed)
Board of Directors, October 2007 (Reaffirmed)
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