Kolkata: She is one in 20,000. For 30 years, she was living a normal life until doctors in Kolkata diagnosed her with a very rare condition and she discovered that she was actually a man! While treating her for abdominal pain, doctors found that she was a ‘man’ suffering from testicular cancer, reported NDTV.
What is more, her 28-year-old sister, who also underwent some tests following this revelation, was also diagnosed with “Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome,” a condition in which a person is genetically male but has all the physical traits of a woman.
The woman is a resident of Bengal’s Birbhum and has been married for the last nine years. She had gone to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Cancer Hospital in Kolkata with severe pain in the lower abdomen a couple of months ago. It was then that Dr Anupam Dutta and Dr. Soumen Das conducted her medical tests and found her true identity.
“From her appearance, she is a woman – starting from her voice, developed breasts, normal external genitalia. However, the uterus and ovaries have been absent since birth. She has also never experienced menstruation,” Dr. Dutta told PTI.
“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.
She is now undergoing chemotherapy and her health 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 the appearance of a woman,” Dr. Dutta said.
“The person has grown up to be a woman. She is married to a man for almost a decade. Currently, we are counselling the patient and her husband, advising them to continue living life as they have been,” said the doctor.
In the past, the couple had tried to conceive a number of times but failed.
There is a family history to it. The patient’s two maternal aunts have also been diagnosed with Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome in the past, PTI quoted the oncologist as saying.
“It’s probably in the genes. We have come to know that two of her aunts from the maternal side were also suffering from a similar condition,” he added.
