Comorbidity of the congenital absence of the vas deferens.

ABSTRACT

Congenital absence of the vas deferens (CAVD) is a relatively rare anomaly that may contribute to male infertility. The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical features of patients with CAVD and to emphasise some pathological conditions that may be detected during the infertility work-up or follow-up of these patients. The charts of 150 males with the diagnosis of CAVD were evaluated retrospectively. The demographic characteristics, reasons for attendance, the way of diagnosis, interventions for infertility before and after attendance, physical examination findings, reproductive hormone levels, semen analysis results, genetical analysis results and resultant live birth events were all included in the study. There were 101 bilateral and 43 unilateral CAVD cases. Thirty-two males (30.2%) had some renal abnormalities. Two cases, one with bilateral and one with unilateral agenesis, died because of colon cancer at a young age. One case with CUAVD had acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. Congenital absence of the vas deferens should not be seen only as a fertility problem because of the many genotypic or phenotypic disorders that may be present with it. These disorders can cause serious general health problems either presently or in future and can also be transmitted to future generations.