Advantages
Some of the advantages, according to Dr. Guha, are:
- Effectiveness - There has been only one unplanned pregnancy among partners of the 250 volunteers who have been injected RISUG — apparently due to an improperly administered injection. Out of the 250 volunteers who have been injected RISUG, 15 received the injection more than 10 years ago.
- Convenience - There is no interruption before the sexual act.
- Cost - The shot itself costs less than the syringe used to administer it, and its long term effectiveness would make it theoretically only a four or five time cost, in the entire lifetime of someone on who chose to continue to be on it.
- Outpatient Procedure - Patients can leave the hospital immediately after an injection and resume their normal sex lives within a week.
- Duration of effect - According to Dr. Guha, a single 60 mg injection can be effective for at least 10 years.
- Reduced side effects - After testing RISUG on more than 250 volunteers, neither Guha nor other researchers in the field report side effects other than a slight scrotal swelling in some men immediately following the injection, which goes away after a few weeks, though there are also unconfirmed reports of kidney problems (see Controversy section below for further details). Also, because sperm can still exit the body unimpeded, patients don’t experience the pressure or granulomas that can result from vasectomy.
- Reversibility - The contraceptive action appears to be reversible by flushing the vas deferens with another injection of dimethyl sulfoxide or sodium bicarbonate solution. (The sodium bicarbonate solution cannot be used as the solvent in the initial injection since it would neutralize the positive charge effect.) Although this reversal procedure has been tried only on primates, it has been repeatedly successful. Unlike in a vasectomy (see Blood-testis barrier), the vas deferens is not completely blocked, the body doesn't have to absorb the blocked sperm, and sperm antibodies are not produced in large numbers, making successful reversal more likely than with a vasovasostomy.
Read more about this topic: Reversible Inhibition Of Sperm Under Guidance
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