Posts Tagged ‘vasectomy reversal’

Adding Hope to Health

Sunday, March 7th, 2010
How about being happy and hopeful as well as healthy?

How about being happy and hopeful as well as healthy?

The couple had been trying to conceive for 5 years unsuccessfully. The tension and anxiety in the relationship was palpable and strained. They had spent well into the 5 digits to have a child with test tube baby technology (IVF) and yet were still not pregnant. His vasectomy reversal had also failed them. And they were going to try one more time, just once, with me, before calling it quits.

When he came to me for care, he was frankly depressed. Out of money and full of debt, close to losing his job in this economy and in a strained relationship hanging on by a thread, he sat across from me. He looked terrible. “Can you help?” he asked me.

Well I did help. I reversed his vasectomy again and it worked. Fast-forward 9 months and a birth announcement arrives in the office from the couple with a long personal note of thanks on the back. But one line really struck me:

”Looking at her, sleeping quietly, I see her future as an astronaut, the President, a doctor, a lawyer or anything else that she wants to be. She can be or do anything!”

Absolutely unbridled hope and enthusiasm was infusing a mind once filled with almost unfathomable despair. All this change, nine months and one baby ago. Wow!

Talk about a biological drive. Reproduction easily ranks up there with breathing and eating. Not for everyone of course, but for many. I am quite sure that if you surveyed infertile couples about their quality of life with infertility, as has been done in patients with cancer, you would find these diagnoses equally impactful. I have no doubt many of my patients would give up five healthy years of their life to have a child. Maybe even 10. Just because it cannot be assessed by a blood pressure cuff, a blood test, or a scar does not make infertility any less important an affliction.

And yet, despite its profound impact, its ability to tear apart relationships, crush self-esteem and slow down an otherwise productive couple to a grinding halt, infertility is not really considered a disease in many societies, including ours.

Want a more productive and healthier society? Cure infertility. And what about something else that this world could use a lot more of, as expressed by my patient: the resurrection of those elemental feelings that lead us to live good lives and to make the world a better place for those who will follow us.

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The Symphony of Surgery

Wednesday, November 25th, 2009
Tickle the ivories and delight the senses.

Tickle the ivories and delight the senses.

I spent an evening this past weekend listening to the mighty Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle. Listening to their performance of Wagner, Schoenberg and Brahms left me utterly breathless. A magnificent musical experience. Why? Because every single musician thinks and responds incredibly quickly and appears to give their all to a whole that is far greater than the sum of the parts. The mastery of these technically demanding movements was superb and it was clear that this orchestra, led by a conductor filled with supreme passion, could turn on a dime at any moment.

Can a surgeon perform surgery like a world-class symphony performs music? Absolutely. While a resident in general surgery, I remember watching a pediatric heart surgeon name William Norwood at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia perform his own Norwood Procedure on children with malformed hearts. Dr. Norwood’s hypoplastic heart surgery on infants at the brink of death was exhilarating to behold. Appearing intense and focused, with no wasted movements of his ambidextrous hands, he could repair an aorta or pulmonary artery in a minute with either hand, throwing absolutely perfect sutures as rapidly as a sewing machine. All the while working on hearts the size of shrunken plums and veins slimmer than angel-hair pasta. A technical virtuoso. All while listening to Albinoni’s Adagio in G Minor.

Aside from sheer talent, what makes William Norwood and Sir Simon Rattle the giants that they are, is a vision of perfection and the ability to inspire the best from others. Helping others achieve more than they could otherwise is a key element of leadership, especially in the setting of complex team performances like heart surgery or Schoenberg movements.

Inspired by these maestros, I too strive for perfection in my corner of the medical world, that of reproductive microsurgery. I view vasectomy reversal surgery as a craft best done by artisans. The chance to lead a roomful of others, throw 300 knots all with equal precision into an organ the size of spaghetti, gauge biology like a painter eyeing a still life, and help to create new life as a result. There is art in all that we do. Have you found your canvas?

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Are We Replacing Ourselves?

Tuesday, September 8th, 2009
Where are you? Green means high and red means low.

Where are you? Green means high and red means low.

When a couple decides to have children, they rarely, if ever, contemplate the effect this has on the nation. But population scientists do. The effect that birth rates have on society is critical—as basic as knowing whether a nation is sustaining their population or not. But, trying to figure out if birth rates are going up or down is also complex, not unlike taking our temperature by feeling our foreheads.

A good barometer of birth rate assesses the average number of births per woman, and is generally noted by country. For a country to sustain its population in the future, the replacement rate is 2.1, or 2.1 births to every woman. What has occupied the minds of population scientists over the past 20 years is the fact that birth rates have dropped around the world, especially in Europe, but also in China and Japan. Interestingly, many countries in Africa do not have this problem, with birth rates well above 4. 

Also notable is the fact that in the past 20 years, the population of the world has dropped, falling an average of 1% per year. You can imagine how much this issue has occupied the minds of population scientists who seek to explain the phenomenon. Contributing factors include changing attitudes about family size, the cost of raising a child and the wider availability of contraceptives. The birth rate may also be dropping because child mortality on the whole has dropped. Or, because women who choose to have children later create a temporary lull in the birth rate. One concern with population drops is that countries whose populations become too small may not be able to afford to support its infrastructure, causing economic decline. So, on the one hand, it’s expensive to raise a child. On the other, it’s also expensive not to.

A recent study however, does show a change in these trends. Fertility rates now show a recent increase in developed nations. For years it has been thought that for some reason, developed nations, including most of Europe, have steadily dwindling populations. But this may not actually be the case. For example, in the 1970s, the US fertility rate was at a low of 1.74; lately it’s been relatively stable at 2.05. It appears that children are still wanted in a modernized world.

It’s quite hard to see these trends in my daily medical practice, as I perform as many vasectomies as I do vasectomy reversals. It’s even harder to render an opinion when the information is so diffuse and generational. So, to population scientist, I am a professionally “neutral contributor” to fertility rates. Like to think I do more good than that though…

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Posted in sexual health | 4 Comments »

The Ailing Male Pill

Thursday, August 6th, 2009
What shape will the male pill take?

What shape will the male pill take?

A male birth control pill certainly sounds like a good idea. But after 25 years and millions of dollars of research, there’s still no pill. We put a man on the moon faster than we’ve invented a male pill.

The question isn’t really whether it can be done, because it can. The production of sperm is linked to testosterone levels in the body. When testosterone levels are too high, the body stops producing sperm. Witness the testis shrinking (atrophy) that occurs with anabolic steroid use. Such pills have been tested, and are successful. One problem, though, is that the ability of hormone-based male pills to work perfectly (which they really need to do) varies with a man’s ethnicity. Works for some, but not all. This issue alone may prove fatal for the male hormone pill.

Besides this, there is a litany of concerns regarding the physical side effects of a hormone-based male pill. Immediate concerns have been a big issue in past trials- adult acne, weight gain, moodiness and the like. But what about possible long term effects? The female contraceptive pill has been linked with higher rates of heart disease and breast and liver cancer in women. Although not completely comforting, at least we know these issues in women. But little to no research has addressed similar issues with long term “pill” use in men.

Despite all of this, there is still a healthy interest in a male birth control pill. Studies have shown that men in committed relationships are more interested than single men in a pill– no surprise here. Single men are interested in using condoms for the added bonus of protection against STDs. A male birth control pill might also be a better contraceptive alternative for men who want more control over family planning than that offered by vasectomy. That said, there is still the eternal question of whether or not a pill would sell successfully– would women, in the end, trust their partners to be consistent and compliant in taking the pill? The answer to this question varies from couple to couple, but to get a sense of things, ask yourself how often you fail to take something as simple and uneventful as a daily multivitamin to get an idea of the magnitude of this problem.

There simply aren’t enough options for male contraception on the market today. The main ones are abstinence, rhythm method, withdrawal, condoms, and vasectomy. Given this lineup, there is certainly room for more, and more reliable, contraceptives for men. One thing seems reasonable clear: given the safety and effectiveness of vasectomy, and fact that daily compliance is not needed to keep it effective, anything new has to be this good or better. How about a truly reversible vasectomy? Or a long term, implantable hormonal device? In the end, these are likely to become tasty alternatives to a male pill.

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The Vasectomy Hoopla

Monday, April 20th, 2009

Thoughts as elemental as the ocean

Thoughts as elemental as the ocean

These are times fraught with uncertainty. A sunny day isn’t just a sunny day anymore; it’s evidence of global warming. America has been at war for almost a decade, trusted financial institutions are folding and our economy appears to be on the verge of collapse. It seems only natural that people would look at our unstable world, ask themselves dark-night-of-the-soul type questions, and choose what is right for them.

In the last several months, since the scope of our financial crisis has made itself known, there has been a spike in the number of vasectomies being performed. Some Planned Parenthoods are reporting that vasectomies are on the rise, up thirty percent from the same period last year. Several doctors have also made the same observation. The New York Times recently attributed the increase to the bleak outlook of America’s economy. They postulate that men are reacting out of fear that they can’t afford a child. This is too simplistic a conclusion. A man’s life is long, as is the ability to reproduce, and can easily outlast a financial deep freeze. And people don’t stop wanting children simply because they are expensive. The desire to procreate runs too deep; as deep as the need to eat.

There could be other reasons for the increase, if in fact there really is an increase. For one thing, reproductive impulses move with the seasons. It has been observed that, like most of nature, human reproduction is seasonal. It is widely accepted in the scientific community that birthrates swing up and down as the year progresses, with more babies born in the spring. Just like lambs. Despite our seeming transcendence of the animal world, reproductive urges remain firmly guided by biology. We could simply be seeing a downswing in this urge at this time.

It’s also possible that the new year, especially this one, gave people a desire to make a fresh start, and are putting their plans into action while they feel motivated. No doubt there will be a lull in vasectomy business when everyone runs off for vacation in the summer. Mai-tai or vasectomy? You choose.

One observation that throws a wrench in the New York Times’ argument is that right now, in my practice, I am seeing a surge of interest in vasectomy reversals. With these couples, just as with men seeking vasectomies, there is a level of urgency. Across the board, I hear the same thing from both groups — it’s now or never.

I am inclined to think that the grim reality of the recession, the wars, the rise in global temperature (will that affect sperm production?) — threats such as these crystallize thoughts and focus actions, helping us to clarify in our minds what we truly want. I think men are simply putting into action what they were already planning to do, while it is still possible. Whether it’s a man who seeks a vasectomy before he’s laid off, or a couple who thinks the clock is ticking just a little louder, times like these can reveal to people what is truly, fundamentally important to them.

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