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Robotic assisted vasectomy reversal offers greater chance of fatherhood
Many people think that getting a vasectomy reversed is just like turning on a faucet that was off, but it’s not that simple. Reversal is a very delicate procedure that requires ultra precision for it to be successful.
About one month ago, Northwestern Memorial became the first center in the Midwest to perform a pioneering robotic assisted vasectomy reversal using the da Vinci surgical robot.
Urologists believe this approach is superior to traditional surgery in that it may yield more successful outcomes and reduce couples’ wait times for conceiving naturally. They explain this high degree of precision is ideally achieved by using the robot, and it’s the primary reason for evaluation of robotic applications for vasectomy reversal. Although the method doesn’t cut procedural or recovery times, surgical researchers like Northwestern Memorial experts are interested in its potential to offer men an earlier return and higher concentration of sperm, which according to him “theoretically increases the likelihood of natural pregnancy.”
A Northwestern urological surgeon specializing in microsurgery said that while a vasectomy is a ten minute, outpatient procedure, the reversal can take between four-five hours and recovery time could take up to ten days. According to his opinion, it’s not good enough to be pretty sure you want to have a vasectomy, you have to really consider the time and financial implications of vasectomy reversal because there’s always a chance it won’t be successful. Reversing the vasectomy is a very involved procedure, so experts should be in favor of anything that may increase the chance that make couples' dream of having more children come true,
including robotic-assisted procedure.
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