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J. M. H. Ubachs, MD; J. W. J. van Wersch, MD
De Wever Hospital Heerlen, the Netherlands

JAMA. 1993;270(6):707-708.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

To the Editor.

—Giovannuci et al¹ present strong evidence that vasectomy increases the risk of prostate cancer. They briefly discuss the biologic mechanisms whereby vasectomy may influence that risk, note that there may be a reduction in prostatic secretions after vasectomy, and speculate that this might result in a greater exposure of the gland to carcinogenic factors. In the Editorial on this topic,² Drs Howards and Peterson postulate that there are no data to support the hypothesis that the alterations caused by vasectomy will potentiate prostatic cancer. Howards and Peterson indicate that at the moment there is no credible evidence for a possible immunologic mechanism, that the blocking-antibody hypothesis is not currently accepted, and that altered hormone levels are unlikely to play a part. When discussing the question of an eventual biologic mechanism one should be aware that tumor cell growth and blood coagulation are associated. Fibrin formation . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

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