Compliance with Semen Analysis

Abstract

We calculated the compliance rate and determined which population of men would be more or less likely to be compliant with semen analysis followup based on demographic information and complication rates. We retrospectively reviewed the records of 946 consecutive patients who underwent vasectomy at an ambulatory clinic, as performed by 1 urologist. Standard followup consisted of a telephone call or prebooked appointment 2 months after vasectomy and 2 semen analyses 4 months after vasectomy. Average ± SD patient age was 33.6 ± 5.4 years. Of the 946 study patients 47.9% did not submit a negative semen sample, 15.7% submitted 1 and 36.4% submitted the required 2 negative samples to confirm successful vasectomy according to the sampling protocol. Mean time to semen analysis was 4.53 ± 2.14 months. Complications included infection in 1.9% of cases, hematoma in 1% and sperm granuloma in 0.5%. Men 34 years or younger, men with 3 or more children and men without complications were more likely to be noncompliant with semen analysis. The number of men who provided samples for semen analysis in this study was low, although they were given written and verbal reminders. This poor patient compliance is similar to that in previous studies. We identified a subset of patients with poor compliance, which may allow urologists to target preprocedure counseling more appropriately.