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 In a review of past research, they did find a slight increase in the
risk of prostate cancer among men who had vasectomies, but the
study's lead author said the finding might be due to other factors
and should not be a concern.
"It shouldn’t stop you from gaining something that is otherwise very
effective for family planning purposes," said Dr. Bimal Bhindi, of
the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.
A vasectomy is a minor surgical procedure for men that is a 100
percent effective form of birth control, but can be difficult to
reverse. The procedure prevents sperm from entering the semen
ejaculated during sex.
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among American men,
according to the American Cancer Society. About one in seven U.S.
men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer and about one in 39 will
die of it.
Data in the late 1980s suggested a link between vasectomy and
subsequent prostate cancer, Bhindi told Reuters Health.
There was some concern over the quality of that research, he said.
More recent studies also produced mixed results.
"We thought it would be good to synthesize it all and do an
meta-analysis to get a unified answer," said Bhindi.
For the review, the researchers looked through the medical
literature and found 53 studies examining the link between vasectomy
and prostate cancer risk.
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Overall, the data did not suggest a link between vasectomy and
fast-growing, advanced or deadly prostate cancer.
The data did suggest there might be a 0.6 percent increased risk of
prostate cancer from vasectomy, which would mean about 0.5 percent
of all prostate cancers might be due to the procedure.
But that small an increase would not be clinically significant and
shouldn't concern a man who's considering the procedure, Bhindi
said. Furthermore, he said, the increase is so small that other
unmeasured and unknown factors could explain it.
"Vasectomy is a cost-effective, highly efficient and highly
accessible contraceptive option for men," said Bhindi. Concerns over
prostate cancer shouldn't keep men from considering that option, he
added.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2vvmRYA JAMA Internal Medicine, online July
17, 2017.
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