Clamp Ablation Of The Testes (Burdizzo)

[jcat (imported)]

I know it has been said many, many times: Don't try this at home. I am not advocating this!

On another forum there has been an argument about using a clamp(burdizzo) on humans and one provocactive soul demanded evidence for the difference between animal spermatic cords and human. As I understand it human cords are very elastic and flexible whereas animals are quite brittle hence the snapping sound when a clamp is used. So, in my usual way I did some searching to find some answers on this and found nothing but anecdotal stuff.

However, I did find something else and it got me thinking!

"Clamp ablation of the testes compared to bilateral orchiectomy as androgen deprivation therapy for advanced prostate cancer"

There has been an experiment in medicine of using a burdizzo clamp: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script= ... 1000300008

If you Google 'Clamp ablation of the testes' this research comes up all over the place.

What is interesting is that the clamp was only left on for 60 seconds. I know from others experience that it is only truly effective on humans if clamped for much longer somewhere between 15 and 30 minutes.

The medical community have tried it!

Maybe, this research needs to be taken further in first of all understanding the real differences between animal and human cords and also the effectiveness on humans as an experiment.

I would really like to see some links to the evidence on the differences between animals and humans.

There are other members here far better qualified than me to comment on this and add to this discussion some research material.

Is this something worth discussing, sensibly?

[Dave (imported)]

The conclusion is that clamping isn't as affective as a Bilateral Orchiectomy in reducing testosterone in the body in cases of prostate cancer. (When in doubt, look at the pictures.)

Now I would smack myself (real bad) if I said that without explanation.

Go to figure 3 -- serum testosterone: Group 1 (blue) is the orchiectomy and Group 2 (red) is the Burdizzo.

At all times after the baseline (let's say the day before clamping) the men who had the orchiectomy have less testosterone in their bodies than the men who had the burdizzo. If the goal is to reduce testosterone levels in the body, then bilateral orchiectomy is the better way.

Go to figure 5 the PSA test (remember the higher the PSA the worse the cancer risk):

The score on the PSA test drops faster and further for the orchiectomy than the burdizzo.

Go to Figure 6 -- size of the testes:

I didn't expect this... It seems that the burdizzo does cause the testes to shrink but it doesn't reduce testosterone production to castrate (orchiectomy) levels.

Also, and 4/9 (44%) patients required antibiotics for wound infection after the orchiectomy. That's something that several members who had bilateral orchiectomy complained about -- apparently that part of the anatomy is not as sterile as other parts of the body.

HOWEVER, even shrunken testes produce testosterone.

[JesusA (imported)]

It is interesting to read the article that jcat found. Two MDs in South Africa worked with 19 advanced prostate cancer patients, average age about 65. Nine of them had bilateral orchiectomies (surgical castrations) and ten of them had their spermatic cords clamped with a Burdizzo in an attempt to reduce their testosterone to castrate level.

All of the procedures were done in a hospital operating room. The surgical castrations took an average of 16.9 minutes (range 13 to 20) and Burdizzo clamping took an average of 10.9 minutes (6 to 17). After 3 days, the serum testosterone level of all 9 surgically castrated had dropped to castrate level, as had that of 3 of the 10 who had been clamped. At 6 weeks, only ONE of those whose spermatic cords had been clamped was still at castrate level. All were then surgically castrated over the next few months.

An examination of the testicles of the nine who were still producing significant testosterone were found to have been somewhat reduced in size and showed some damage to the spermatic cords with blood vessels thickened, but intact.

The conclusion of the authors was that more research needs to be done to see if there is an effective and inexpensive way to castrate prostate cancer patients non-surgically. The Burdizzo is not it.

_______

Zarrabi, AD & Heyns, CF. (2011).

Clamp ablation of the testes compared to bilateral orchiectomy as

Androgen Deprivation Therapy for advanced prostate cancer. International Brazilian Journal of Urology, vol. 37, no. 3, pp. 347-354.

[A-1 (imported)]

I suppose that a laparoscopic procedure could be successful, since laparoscopic cholecystectomies are the standard for Gall Bladder removal. I remember when gall bladder surgery meant a 4-6 day stay in the hospital and an incision that sometimes went from xyphoid process of sternum to navel. Now there is about 4-5 1" or less incisions and the procedure is done on an outpatient basis. Check-in in the morning and home at 5 PM when the surgery center closes. Since the gas used to inflate the abdomen is carbon dioxcide, it is excreted pretty fast through the blood and respiratory system.

So, yes, a couple of small scrotal incisions, inflation with carbon dioxcide and instrumentation with testicles removed through small incisions should be possible, and even a low abdominal incision without scrotal incisions at all which would be better tolerated.

Jesus, ask around and see what you can find out.

[Paolo]

I'm sure they could find volunteers to try it out on.

[YodaNell (imported)]

My gall bladder was removed by laparoscopic procedure. It was a piece of cake. Went home the next day.

[Paolo]

YodaNell, I've had several family and friends have the same procedure. Just go in and suck that thing right out, don't they?!

[ZeuterMe (imported)]

Didn't the intra-sperm-cord injection of ethanol or calchlorin we discovered here do the job pretty quickly and with only one injection? Given that it seemed to work by disrupting the blood supply, just as burdizzo theroetically does but ACTUALLy works, why not give that a try?

[jcat (imported)]

Didn't the intra-sperm-cord injection of ethanol or calchlorin we discovered here do the job pretty quickly and with only one injection? Given that it seemed to work by disrupting the blood supply, just as burdizzo theroetically does but ACTUALLy works, why not give that a try?

I injected one cord with medical grade calcium chloride and the the result was to cause complete ischemia of the cord. But, there are risks with this too.

[ZeuterMe (imported)]

I injected one cord with medical grade calcium chloride and the the result was to cause complete ischemia of the cord. But, there are risks with this too.

There are risks associated with advanced prostate cancer, and with any surgery, no matter how minor.

I can't rule out the possibility that your injections are the safest thing we are considering here. :p