Does Having A Vasectomy Increase The Risk Of Prostate Cancer?

There are many men who are concerned that if they have a vasectomy they will be at a greater risk for prostate cancer. What does the actual research truly reveal? Is there a solid correlation between vasectomies and cancer of the prostate?

50 plus million adult men across the world have had a vasectomy, one of the most common methods of permanent birth control for adult males. This is a very common procedure for adult men older than thirty five (just about 17 percent of men over 35). Doctors conduct in excess of 500,000 vasectomies on a yearly basis in the United States alone!

A vasectomy process is an extremely uncomplicated outpatient surgery procedure which requires obstructing or cutting the vas deferens which brings sperm to the semen. Semen without sperm is not able to impregnate a woman. Generally the procedure is usually conducted in the physician's clinic without the need to visit a surgery center. Only a local pain-killer is necessary and some men even elect to observe as the procedure is performed! A vasectomy is known as a safe, low-risk, low-cost contraceptive procedure.

Because the amount of vasectomies conducted is so large, experts are concerned if there is a link between vasectomies and prostate kind of cancer risk. If vasectomies are related to an increased possibility of prostate cancer, then the world needs to get ready for a prostate cancer outbreak!

A Small Correlation Between Vasectomy And Prostate Cancer

Inside the professional medical community a vasectomy is regarded as a low-risk medical procedure with very little cause for concern aside from infection control challenges associated with any outpatient surgical procedure. However a few decades back, a handful of large medical research studies ended up being performed. Once the data ended up being analyzed there seemed to reveal a small, but substantial positive correlation between vasectomies and cancer of the prostate.

Futher Study Of The Link Between Vasectomy And Prostate Cancer

In 1993 a conference was held by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Developement to further examine the link between vasectomy and cancer of the prostate. All information from the large studies as well as published and unpublished data was diligently reviewed by the researchers.

What was their conclusion? The research results were inconsistent. They went on to explain how they could not give any biologically sensible basis for the reason vasectomies might lead to prostate cancer. Nonetheless, to be on the safe side, they ended by proclaiming that regardless of whether a vasectomy increases prostate cancer risk, it is really an incredibly small risk.

Other medical and scientific research panels have concluded the same findings since 1993. The National Cancer Institute held a project meeting in the late nineties to assess the most updated cancer research and they determined that the correlation between prostate cancer and vasectomy was weak.

Even currently scientists are still studying the potential correlation, but very little has changed in more than a decade. There is "no real association between vasectomy and prostate cancer" as stated by Dr. David Chen, MD and professor at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia.

What Men Need To Know About Vasectomy And Prostate Cancer

No matter what you may have learned about the research, the most crucial point to consider is that a vasectomy is a safe outpatient procedure - and the chance of cancer of the prostate should not put you off from having a vasectomy. Vasectomy is amongst the simplest, safest and effective permanent contraception procedures and it doesn't increase risk for prostate cancer.

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Jonathan is a freelance writer, successful health educator, speaker and consultant. In his free time he enjoys making websites. Check-out his most recent nternet site heartmonitorwatchdeals.com/ to find a great price on a heart monitor watch.

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