Kolkata: Woman finds out she is man after 30-years during treatment

For 30-years a women led a regular life with no problems, until not long ago, when doctors, while treating her for abdominal pain, found out that she was a man having testicular cancer.

Shockingly, her sister (28), who went through needful tests after the divulgence, was also detected with ‘Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome’. This is a condition in which a person is born genetically male, but has all physical characteristics of a female.

The 30-year-old, who hailed from West Bengal’s Birbhum, married for the last nine years, had visited Netaji Subash Chandra Bose Cancer Hospital with acute pain in the abdomen a few months ago, after which Dr Anupam Dutta and Dr Soumen Das carried out her medical examinations and learned her actual self.

“From her appearance, she is a woman. Starting from her voice, developed breasts, normal external genitalia, everything is that of a woman. However, uterus and ovaries have been absent since birth. She has also never experienced menstruation,” Dr Dutta told PTI.

It’s a very rare disorder, and can be found one in every 22,000 people, he said.

After test reports pointed that the person has a blind vagina, doctors made a decision to carry out Karyotyping test, which showed that her chromosome complement was ‘XY’ and not ‘XX’, as found in a female.

“We conducted clinical examinations, after she complained of abdominal pain, and found out she has testicles inside her body. A biopsy was conducted, following which she was diagnosed with testicular cancer, also called seminoma, Dr Dutta explained.

At the moment, she is going through chemotheraphy and her condition is stable.

“As her testicles remained undeveloped inside the body, there was no secretion of testosterone. Her female hormones, on the other hand, gave her the appearance of a woman,” Dr Dutta stated.

Questioned on her reaction to the disclosure, he stated,“The person has grown up to be a woman. She is married to man for almost a decade. Currently, we are counselling the patient and her husband, advising them to continue living life as they have been.” It was learnt, that the couple had tried for babies a number of times but failed.

Two maternal aunts of the patients were also diagnosed with Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome in the past, the oncologist said.

“It’s probably in the genes. We have come to know that two of her aunts from the maternal side were also suffering from similar condition,” he added.

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