Men turning to IVF over Vasectomy reversal

Men with a vasectomy who wish to father children have only two options.

They may attempt a vasectomy reversal or have sperm surgically retrieved from their testes (TESA) and used with their partner’s eggs as part of IVF using ICSI technique (Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection). In recent years we are seeing couples choosing IVF to have children rather than vasectomy reversal. In 2006, 64 couples undertook this approach with Queensland Fertility Group. There are several benefi ts to this approach including:

1. Sperm harvesting from the testes is performed in our day theatre under local anaesthetic and sedation.
2. Extra sperm can be frozen at the time minimising the chance that a man has to undertake this procedure again
3. Sperm obtained through TESA yield the same pregnancy success rate as normal sperm (40-50% success rate per IVF treatment cycle)
4. Vasectomy reversal is not a guarantee that a couple will achieve a natural pregnancy. Pregnancy rates after vasectomy reversal are 40-60% - about the same as 1 cycle or month of IVF.