: Dr. Shu has performed no scalpel vasectomy for 14 years. Recently, one of his previous vasectomy patients came for the vasectomy reversal. He lives in Minneapolis. He and his wife changed their mind and wanted more kids now. The patient was told that it would be difficult to reverse it because Dr. Shu’s old vasectomy technique was quite “aggressive”, although the patient had a successful reversal during the surgery.
Like many surgeons, Dr. Shu stopped performing “aggressive” no scalpel vasectomy since he started offering the vasectomy reversal last year. He used to cut off a small segment of vas on each side and destroy the lining of the tube on both ends with a cautery. This technique meets the concept of permanent sterilization, but it is not reversal friendly.
Now Dr. Shu adopted the open-end and reverse-friendly vasectomy technique. He no longer cuts off a segment of vas, and he no longer cauterizes both ends of vas. Instead, he destroys the lining of the tube on the upper end only and keeps the healthy vas as long as possible. This reversal friendly technique will significantly improve the success of reversal in case patients change their mind and want more children in the future.
