Table 1 Individual and consensus criteria used by the reviewers to assess the presence of early recanalization.
From: Frequency and patterns of early recanalization after vasectomy
Reviewers | Criteria used to assess early recanalization |
|---|---|
1 | Absence or very rare sperm at 2 weeks followed by an increasing number of sperm in any subsequent semen analyses. If motility was available, reappearance of motility after complete disappearance was considered as recanalization. Persistence of high numbers of motile sperm with no evidence of an initial decrease in sperm numbers was not considered as recanalization. |
2 | A severe drop in sperm counts immediately or soon after the vasectomy, down to about 1 million/mL or less, followed by a subsequent rise to above about 10 million, with motility increasing the probability of recanalization. Vasectomy success, included for the FI trial, was considered as evidence against recanalization. |
3 | Azoospermia or count(s) of less than 1 million/mL and then subsequent count(s) over 1 million/mL or reappearance of motile sperm. No motility for several samples followed by reappearance of motile sperm. No recanalization if steady decline to azoospermia or to low sperm numbers (less than1 million/mL) even if azoospermia was not reached. |
Consensus | 1) Azoospermia or low sperm count (less than 1 million/mL) within two to six weeks after the vasectomy and then at least one subsequent count of over 1 million/mL. The probability of recanalization was assumed to increase if the sperm count was higher. |
2) When motility was available, azoospermia or low sperm count with complete or near-complete loss of motility followed by the appearance of increasing numbers of motile sperm. Persistence of numerous motile sperm with no evidence of an early and significant decrease in sperm count was considered as a technical failure and not a recanalization. | |
3) When motility was not available, a slow decline to azoospermia or low sperm numbers (less than 100,000/mL) was not considered as a recanalization, even if azoospermia was not reached. | |
4) If recanalization could not be agreed upon due to missing or ambiguous data, then it was assumed that no recanalization had occurred. |