Use of immunohistochemical markers to confirm the presence of vas deferens in vasectomy specimens.

CD10 has recently been described as a marker that can distinguish wolffian duct derivatives from müllerian remnants but has yet to be tested in vasectomy specimens. We sought to determine if CD10 and pankeratin could corroborate the presence of vas deferens (VD). For the study, 103 consecutive vasectomy specimens were immunohistochemically analyzed for CD10, pankeratin, and CD31 expression in luminal and basal layer cells. In all cases with optimal epithelial histologic features (92/103), CD10 demonstrated intense apical membranous expression in all VD and weak basal cytoplasmic staining in about 98% of cases. Pankeratin demonstrated cytoplasmic and membranous expression in apical and basal layers in 99% of VD. In cases with suboptimal epithelial histologic features (11/103), the detection of epithelia was 100% for CD10 and pankeratin. Our data show that CD10 and pankeratin can be used to confirm the presence of VD in vasectomy specimens in which the epithelial histologic features are suboptimal.