Unveiling the Unforeseen: Woman, 30, Diagnosed with Testicular Cancer Due to Rare Condition

Amidst attending to her abdominal distress, medical professionals at a healthcare facility in Kolkata stumbled upon a startling revelation: the presence of testicular cancer in a 30-year-old woman.

Kolkata: A woman, who has traversed three decades of life seemingly unscathed by complexities, was recently confronted with an extraordinary diagnosis at a Kolkata medical institution—one that afflicts merely one individual in every 22,000. While seeking a remedy for her abdominal discomfort, physicians were confronted with the anomaly that she harbored the physiological attributes of a “man,” grappling with the formidable challenge of testicular cancer.

In a twist of fate, her 28-year-old sibling, prompted by the discovery, underwent requisite examinations, unveiling her plight with “Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome,” a rare anomaly wherein a person is genetically encoded as male yet manifests all the outward characteristics of the female gender.

Hailing from the Birbhum region of Bengal and having been joined in matrimony for the past nine years, the 30-year-old journeyed to the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Cancer Hospital in Kolkata, besieged by acute lower abdominal distress a couple of moons ago. The attending physicians, Dr. Anupam Dutta and Dr. Soumen Das embarked on a course of medical scrutiny, ultimately unraveling her “authentic essence” amid the treatment process.

“As evidenced by her external appearance—her vocal timbre, well-developed mammary glands, and standard external genitalia—it is unmistakable that she presents as female. However, since birth, her uterine and ovarian faculties have remained conspicuously absent. Furthermore, she has never experienced the menstrual cycle,” Dr. Dutta elucidated to PTI.

“After she complained of abdominal discomfort, we conducted a battery of clinical assessments, unearthing the presence of testicles within her corporeal confines. A subsequent biopsy unveiled the diagnosis of testicular cancer, clinically termed seminoma,” Dr. Dutta expounded.

At present, she is undergoing chemotherapy with her medical status exhibiting stability.

“Given the underdeveloped state of her testes within her corporeal precincts, there has been negligible testosterone secretion. Conversely, the presence of feminine hormones has engendered the outward semblance of a woman,” Dr. Dutta remarked.

When queried about her response to this revelation, he remarked, “The individual has traversed the journey to womanhood. For close to a decade, she has been espoused to a male consort. At present, we are providing therapeutic counseling to both the patient and her spouse, advocating for the continuity of their current way of life.”

Notably, the couple had endeavored to conceive on numerous occasions in the past, albeit without success. The oncologist divulged that two of the patient’s maternal aunts had previously grappled with Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome.

“Genetic predisposition may be at play. We have ascertained that two of her maternal aunts have also contended with akin conditions,” he appended.