MedicineSurgeryUrologyReproductive BiologyReproductive MedicineUrologic SurgeryProstate SurgeryReproductive HistoryReproductive Tract SurgerySterilization ProceduresTesticular SurgeryConsensusExperimental Results InterpretationGenitourinary AnatomyTissue Morphology Changes
From 1830 when Astley Cooper first started experimental vasectomy work on dogs until today the experimental results dealing with both the germinal epithelium and the interstitial tissue changes in animals (dogs rabbits guinea pigs rams and rats) have been contradictory and inconclusive. On the other hand since the late 1890s when vasectomy began to be widely used by genitourinary surgeons (at first mainly in connection with operations on the prostate but later also performed ostensibly to stop masturbation for rejuvination and eventually for sterilization) there is unquestioned clinical observation that in humans there have been no adverse effects on sex life after vasectomy and that most patients have benefitted greatly. The early consensus was that the operation was irreversible but since the 1940s there is evidence that natural reunion and canalization has followed the division of the vas deferens both in humans and in animal experiments.