News

Giving Hope to Men with Infertility

May 23, 2016

Dr Shannon Kim, Urologist at Westmead Private Hospital is giving hope to men with infertility. She successfully undertook Ejaculatory Duct Obstruction (EDO) surgery on two young men with great success. EDO can cause pelvic pain and male infertility.

Ejaculatory Duct Obstruction is difficult to diagnose, however if the correct diagnosis is made a transurethral incision of the ejaculatory duct can be performed. If successful, men with no sperm can have normal fertility potential, with often good quality and quantity of sperm.

Dr David Golovsky a senior urologist and male infertility specialist in Sydney assisted Dr Kim during the surgery. One performing dynamic ultrasound to demonstrate the ejaculatory duct, the other surgeon performing cystoscopic incision of ejaculatory duct obstruction. Traditionally, ejaculatory duct was resected using hot current. However, this can seal the ejaculatory duct closed as tissue undergo healing, rendering the procedure futile in many cases. Now using this duo’s cold knife technique, their ejaculatory duct will more likely remain open.

For both patients, a 17 year old and a 25 year old, the future looks brighter for them to naturally conceive when the right time arrives. Both men have received good results following the procedure with a high sperm count on a recent analysis.

Dr Kim said, “I am so happy I could help these young men, who were desperate for their problem to be resolved. It is such a difficult time for them and their families and such a relief when we had success. The whole of the operating suite cheered and applauded when we had a good release and could see a good amount of sperm flow out during the procedure.

Westmead Private is proud to be associated with such expert specialists who strive to receive the best clinical outcomes for their patients.