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A New
Zealand study would appear to end any concerns that men may
have that getting a vasectomy might put them at greater risk
for prostate cancer.
Results
of the study, reported in the Journal of the American Medical
Association, say there is no evidence that a vasectomy increases
the risk of prostate cancer even after 25 years.
The results
would appear to put to rest fears raised by two large studies
a decade ago in which researchers said men who had a vasectomy
were more likely to develop prostate cancer, particularly
two decades or more after the procedure
Later
studies found no link between vasectomies -- which don't directly
affect the prostate gland -- and prostate cancer.
The latest
study in New Zealand, which has the world's highest vasectomy
rate, compared 923 men aged 40 to 74 who had prostate cancer
to a "control" group of 1,224 men who were cancer
free.
"There
was no association between prostate cancer and vasectomy nor
with time since vasectomy," the researchers reported.
"Vasectomy
does not increase the risk of prostate cancer, even after
25 years or more," they concluded.
Source:
Prostate Cancer
Week of June 23, 2002
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