Although it has become common to think of vasectomy as a nearly perfected procedure, and perhaps it is in the hands of some surgeons, but the fact is; that success rates range all over the board depending on the occlusion techniques applied.  Studies have shown that the use of cautery and fascial interposition significantly improve success rates but over a quarter of vasectomies done in the USA are performed without the use of cautery and over half of surgeons performing vasectomy do not use fascial interposition[1]. Clearly a standardized approach could help patients be more assured of receiving an effective treatment. 

Complications are also commonly dismissed as being largely irrelevant as they pertain to vasectomy, however, important studies including one by Anware et al.[2] and another by Choe et al.[3] reported chronic testicular pain sufficient to negatively impact quality of life, afflicting up to 15% and 11.8% of vasectomized men respectively.  A systematic review of the literature by Labrecque et al,[4] referenced painful epididymitis rates as high as 4% to 6% depending on whether open-ended technique was used or not. Based on this data it is obvious that there remains room for improvement in the way vasectomy is performed from a quality-of-life perspective.