Is time since vasectomy more important as prognostic factor for pregnancy and live birth than female and laboratory variables when treating vasectomised man using ICSI?

Fatherhood after vasectomy can be done by vasectomy reversal or intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). Time since vasectomy is the best predictive factor for patency and live birth after a vasectomy reversal but has uncertain importance after ICSI with sperm retrieval. The present study examines the influence of male, female and laboratory variables on pregnancy and live birth. The study is based on 450 ICSI cycles from 332 patients performed on three infertility centres between 1994 and 2012. Interval time since vasectomy was divided in four groups GI-less than 3 years (n = 02); GII-3 to 8 years (n = 74); GIII-9 to 14 years (n = 161) and GIV-15 or more years (n = 213). The variables were tested for pregnancy rate and live birth for first and repeated cycles. Pregnancy and live birth rate were not statistically different among the study interval time groups for first or repeated cycles. Female and laboratory variables were statistically different for couples with pregnancy and live birth for the first cycles. The study suggests that variables coming from female and laboratory were more important than time since vasectomy when treating man with vasectomy using ICSI with sperm retrieval.