No-scalpel vasectomy: review of the first 1,000 cases in a family medicine unit

RESUMO

In Mexico, the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS) had adopted the no-scalpel vasectomy technique by the end of 1989. The technique was described by dr. Li Shunquiang in 1974, and more than 60 million no-scalpel vasectomies have been performed in 26 countries. Among the advantages with no-scalpel vasectomy is that it has fewer complications (0.4 percent) compared to the traditional technique (3.1 percent). We studied 1,00o clinical chart of the subjects operated on between January, 1990 and January, 1993, with the objective of reporting our experiences as well as analyzing whether there existed a correlation between the subject's social and demographic characteristics and the number of control spermatic counts he attended postoperatively. In 97.9 percent of the cases, subjects has no postoperative hemorrhage or hematoma. None of the subjects had a surgical woun infection. In addition, 54.4 percent of the subjects came to the first control spermatic count, 39.7 percent came to the second, and only 18.4 percent came to all three controls. In an attempt to find a characteristic which defined the subject who attends his postoperative control spermatic count, we found an association using X² between the attendance at two controls with the subjects who had been married from 6 - 10 years (p=0.059), and with the subjects who had an income of three minimun wages. Regarding the attendance at all three controls, we found an association with subjects who had an income of two minimun wages (p=0.037). We also found a weak correlation between the attendance at all three controls and the reason reported for not having more children (the couple did not want more children) (r=0.07; p=0.025) and with the manner in which the subjects were referred to the clinic (came on their own initiative) (r=0.09; p=0.006). Finally, we consider that no-scalpel vasectomy can be implemented as an adequate family planning mehtod in Mexico's primary care centers. The lack of adequate attendance at postoperative control spermatic counts does not seem to have an important association with the subjects demographic characteristics, so it appears warranted that this issue be studied from a psychological point of view