STUDIES SAY PROSTATE CANCER, VASECTOMIES MAY BE LINKED

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 17, 1993                   TAG: 9302170118
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CHICAGO                                LENGTH: Medium
STUDIES SAY PROSTATE CANCER, VASECTOMIES MAY BE LINKED
Two new studies suggest vasectomies increase men's likelihood of developing prostate cancer, but outside experts questioned the findings and urged men with vasectomies not to get them reversed.
Men considering the procedure should weigh the benefits and risks of various birth-control methods before choosing one, along with their partners, doctors said.
"Every form of contraception, as well as practicing no contraception, has its risks," said Dr. Edward Giovannucci, leader of the new studies and an epidemiologist at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital.
Findings appear in today's issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association.
Prior studies have been conflicting.
Four have linked vasectomies to an increased risk of prostate cancer, which killed 32,000 U.S. men in 1991, more than any other kind of cancer except lung, Giovannucci and his colleagues said.
But three other previous studies found no such link, said Dr. Stuart S. Howards, a urology professor at the University of Virginia Medical School in Charlottesville.
"These two papers are well-done epidemiological studies, which have to be considered seriously but do not prove that vasectomy causes prostate cancer," Howards said Tuesday.
"This is what's called a weak association epidemiologically [statistically across a population]," he said. "There is . . . no known reason why a vasectomy would increase your chances of getting prostate cancer."
Giovannucci agreed that there was no obvious explanation for the apparent link, but said it could have something to do with fluid production in the prostate gland, which declines after a vasectomy.
Each new study found about a 60 percent elevated risk of prostate cancer among men who had undergone vasectomies.
The elevated risk occurred 15 to 20 years after the procedure, said the researchers.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB