Prevalence of Vas Deferens Calcifications on Abdominal CT Examinations and Association With Systemic Conditions.

Abstract

<b>OBJECTIVE.</b> The purpose of this study was to describe the prevalence of vas deferens (VD) calcifications on abdominal CT examinations and the associations between VD calcifications and several systemic conditions. <b>MATERIALS AND METHODS.</b> The CT examinations of male patients from January 2010 to December 2011 were retrospectively reviewed. After exclusions, the records of 1915 consecutively identified patients were analyzed. Five readers, 3rd- and 4th-year radiology residents, recorded the presence and laterality of VD calcifications and of vascular calcifications presumed due to atherosclerosis. A sixth reader parsed the patient records for diagnoses of type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) and chronic kidney disease (CKD). <b>RESULTS.</b> The mean age of the entire sample population was 52.9 ± 18.9 years (range, 1-93 years). The mean age of patients with VD calcifications was 59.3 ± 12.0 (SD) years and of the group without VD calcifications was 52.9 ± 19.1 years (<i>p</i> = 0.17). The prevalence of VD calcification was 1.61% (31 patients): 21 (67.7%) of the patients had bilateral calcification; seven (22.6%), right-sided only; and three, (9.7%) left-sided. The frequency of DM was 28.8% (551/1915), of CKD was 7.58% (150/1915), and of atherosclerosis, 60.4% (1156/1915). The mean caliber of calcified VDs was 5.31 ± 1.29 mm versus 3.63 ± 0.63 mm for patients without calcification or any chronic condition (<i>p</i> < 0.0001). Among age, atherosclerosis, DM, and CKD in univariate regression analysis, only DM was associated with VD calcification (<i>p</i> = 0.006). However, because age (<i>p</i> = 0.063) and atherosclerosis (<i>p</i> = 0.057) were close to significant, they were included in the multivariate analysis, which also showed only DM associated with VD calcification (odds ratio, 2.14 ± 0.85). <b>CONCLUSION.</b> In the large cohort in this study, the prevalence of VD calcification was 1.61%. VD calcification was strongly associated with DM. The pathologic implications of VD calcification remain unclear and warrant further investigation in prospective longitudinal studies.