We’re all entitled to a change of heart. While we cannot reverse the effects of some decisions we make in life, it is fortunately possible to restore fertility after the decision to have a vasectomy. Especially when performed by a microsurgeon with the skill, experience, and training of urologist Larry Lipshultz in Houston, vasectomy reversal pregnancy rates are quite high, giving hope to couples who wish to start or expand their families through traditional methods of conception.

The Difference between Patency Rate and Pregnancy Rate

In considering the success rate of any vasectomy reversal specialist, it is important that you understand the difference between patency rate and pregnancy rate. For example, when you read of a urologist having a 90 percent success rate when performing vasectomy reversal using the vasovasostomy method, that number is certainly referring to patency rate, or the return of motile sperm to the ejaculate. Because there is always more to achieving successful pregnancy than just the presence of sperm in the ejaculate, the pregnancy rate of any surgeon’s vasectomy reversal procedures is inevitably going to be lower than the patency rate.

In the case of Dr. Lipshultz, who is considered one of the world’s foremost experts both in microsurgery and vasectomy reversal, his success rates in all measures compare favorably to national averages. He has performed more than two-thousand vasectomy reversal procedures and achieved the following patency and pregnancy rates:

• Microsurgical vasovasostomy: approximately 95 percent patency rate
• Microsurgical vasovasostomy: approximately 75 percent pregnancy rate
• Microsurgical epididymovasostomy: approximately 65 percent patency rate
• Microsurgical epididymovasostomy: approximately 50 percent pregnancy rate

There are, of course, individual factors that can influence a patient’s likelihood of achieving successful conception after vasectomy reversal, including the patient’s age and the amount of time that has passed since the patient had the vasectomy. Dr. Lipshultz has had outstanding success in performing vasectomy reversal on older patients and on patients who are having their reversals even decades after their vasectomies. His state-of-the-art technology and finely honed techniques combine to ensure the best possible results for his vasectomy reversal patients.

Alternatives to Vasectomy Reversal

If vasectomy reversal is not recommended in your case, or if you are unable to achieve successful pregnancy within a year of your vasectomy removal, there are other fertility treatment options available to you. These include:

• Microsurgical epididymis sperm aspiration (MESA), in which a single epididymal tubule is opened, and sperm are extracted (with some sperm set aside to be frozen for future use, if necessary). This procedure can be performed during epididymovasostomy.
• Microsurgical testicular sperm extraction (TESE) is similar to the MESA technique, but sperm are retrieved directly from the testicle.

Both of these techniques are used in conjunction with intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), in which a single sperm is injected into an immature egg cell retrieved through in vitro fertilization, or IVF.

Learn More about Vasectomy Reversal Pregnancy Rates

To learn more about vasectomy reversal pregnancy rates, or to schedule your initial consultation with world-renowned urologist Larry Lipshultz, please contact the Baylor College of Medicine, Scott Department of Urology today.