Increased sperm DNA fragmentation in patients with vasectomy reversal has no prognostic value for pregnancy rate

We evaluated sperm DNA fragmentation in patients with vasectomy reversal and its prognostic value to determine spontaneous and assisted reproductive technique pregnancy rates.

We prospectively assessed DNA fragmentation with the sperm chromatin structure assay in postoperative semen samples of 70 patients with vasectomy reversal. At a median +/- SD followup of 4.3 +/- 0.5 years pregnancy rates were recorded.

DNA fragmentation in patients with vasectomy reversal was significantly increased vs that in proven fertile controls (30.2% +/- 20.1% vs 15.3% +/- 5.4%, p <0.001). Significant negative correlations were found between DNA fragmentation index and total sperm count, progressive motility, total number of progressive sperm, normal morphology and sperm vitality (-0.325

Increased DNA fragmentation is present in semen samples of men after vasectomy reversal vs fertile controls but DNA fragmentation is not associated with spontaneous or assisted reproductive technique pregnancy rates in these patients.