[Influence of epididymitis history on the results of vasoepididyostomy in patients with epididymal obstruction].

[OBJECTIVE] To evaluate the influence of epididymitis history on the results of microsurgical vasoepididymostomy and spontaneous pregnancy in patients with epididymal obstruction.

[METHODS] Totally 205 patients with epididymal obstruction underwent microsurgical two-suture longitudinal intussusception vasoepididymostomy from January 2014 to December 2016. After surgery, we evaluated the semen quality of the patients every 3 months till conception and compared the rates of patency and spontaneous pregnancy between the patients with and those without an epididymitis history.

[RESULTS] The patients ranged in age from 22 to 46 (mean 31) years, 37 (22.2%) with and 126 (77.8%) without an epididymitis history among the 163 patients for whom a 25.4-month follow-up (from 7 to 42 months) was completed. No statistically significant differences were observed postoperatively between the patients with and those without an epididymitis history in the patency rate (73.0% vs 81.7%, P = 0.243), sperm concentration (18 ［1.3－33.6］ vs 15.2 ［0.8－33.4］ ×10⁶/ml, P = 0.710), percentage of progressively motile sperm (27.5 ［0－46.1］% vs 19.3 ［0－41］% (P = 0.592) or rate of spontaneous pregnancy (24.3% vs 38.9%, P = 0.104).

[CONCLUSION] Microsurgical vasoepididymostomy is an effective method for the treatment of epididymal obstruction, and epididymitis history does not affect the results of the strategy.