Sperm granulomas: Predictive factors and impacts on patency post vasectomy reversal

Abstract

The objective of this study was to identify factors that predict for sperm granuloma formation and the impact of sperm granuloma presence and quantity on vasectomy reversal (VR) outcomes. A cross sectional retrospective review of prospectively collected data, on the impact of granuloma on VR outcomes from a single academic center was performed. The impact of age, obstructive interval, intraoperative vasal fluid findings, anastomosis type, body mass index, tobacco use and total motile count (TMC) was determined. A total of 1550 men underwent VR between January 2000 and August 2019. Granulomas were present unilaterally in 23.3% (n = 361) and bilaterally in 14.2% (n = 220). On univariate analysis, increasing patient age negatively correlated with a larger number of granulomas (p =.011). Granuloma presence was associated with finding intact and motile sperm from the vasal stump intraoperatively (p =.001), and vasoepididymostomy anastomosis (p