BHUBANESWAR: Doctors at a private hospital here have removed female genitals with a tumour in it from the body of a 32-year-old man. It is considered one of the rare health conditions as the tumour was cancerous. So far, only eight such cases have have been reported worldwide.
A team of doctors led by Urologist Dr Manas Ranjan Pradhan and Dr Ramya Ranjan Behera performed the rare surgery at Kalinga Hospital recently. They conducted a three-hour surgery and removed the female genitals, including uterus, ovary and fallopian tube from the man’s abdomen.
The young man from West Midnapore is married for the last seven years and was being treated at a local hospital for infertility. Soon after he developed a swelling in his lower abdomen accompanied by severe pain and was brought here.
“When he came to Kalinga Hospital for further treatment, we conducted a CT scan. He was evaluated and found to have an undescended testis on right side with a tumour arising from it. Initially, we could not find any sign of presence of female organs,” said Dr Pradhan.
A further study on his reports, however, indicated that the man had female genital organs. His condition was rare as external and internal organs did not match. Subsequent evaluation of the patient showed that he has normal level of male hormones in his body along with high level of female hormones. Biopsy of the operated specimen confirmed it to be uterus, fallopian tubes and an ovotestis (both female and male gonad).
“He can now lead a normal life, but cannot be a father. The tube which carries sperm to the organ has not been formed. We have to study further whether there is any alternative which can come to his rescue,” Dr Pradhan said.
Though in terms of external organ, he is a complete man and is leading a normal married life, internally he had both male and female organs. The patient is doing fine after surgery and he has been discharged from the hospital.
“A person with both female and male genital organs is known as a true hermaphrodite. Moreover, a tumour arising from the gonad of a true hermaphrodite is very rare and only a few instances of surgery in such cases have been reported worldwide,” he added.