Science / Medicine : Vasectomies, Stones Linked

A new study indicates that men who have had a vasectomy may be more likely to get stones in their urinary tract, but other researchers are skeptical that such a connection could exist.

In a report in the British medical journal Lancet, the researchers said vasectomized men between the ages of 30 and 34 were more than twice as likely to form kidney, bladder or other urinary stones than non-vasectomized men.

The risk declined in older men, but those aged 55 to 64 were still 1.3 times more likely to have stones than non-vasectomized men the same age, according to the researchers, led by Richard Kronmal, professor of biostatistics at the University of Washington in Seattle.

The researchers speculated that an immune change--when the body produces antibodies to the blocked sperm--might somehow be involved. Or, they said, it is possible that men who get vasectomies might for some reason be more susceptible to risk factors for stones.