216
submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by SomeoneElse@lemmy.world to c/dontyouknowwhoiam@lemmy.world
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] anticommon@lemmy.fmhy.ml 0 points 1 year ago

NPR had a segment about this the other day.

Part of the issue with removing the nuts (gonadal tissue?) Is that these people have major issues with bone density and other sex hormone related problems whereas the risk of cancer is similar to any male getting testicular cancer.

They aren't given a choice because the surgery happens at a young age, yet they have to bear the medical consequences.

[-] SomeoneElse@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago

Is that why women suffer from osteoporosis more than men? Testosterone makes bones stronger?

[-] justdoit@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

The dairy industry had it wrong all these years

[-] justdoit@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

So disclaimer here, I’m only savvy on the molecular bio and can’t speak as much to the actual healthcare side of things, but the actual diagnosis is a little more complex than what I’ve written here. Sometimes streak gonads (gonadal tissue which failed to become fully functional ovaries or testes) will still contain some testis or ovarian tissue which will produce hormones. Just depends on the severity of the gonadal dysgenesis.

But as you’ve written it here is seems NPR is implying the surgery itself causes bone density issues? Those issues arise due to an absence of sex hormones, which would still be a problem in complete gonadal dysgenesis. This is why treatment is usually paired with hormone therapy as well as surgery.

I can’t speak to the relative risks of either, though. As with any surgery and treatment, it’s a medical decision with a lot of factors.

[-] coys25@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

This is also outside of my area of expertise, but I am guessing the NPR interview is this one from Fresh Air:

Weigel, who identifies as she/they, was born with androgen insensitivity syndrome — a condition in which a person has both X and Y chromosomes, but does not respond to male hormones. Though Weigel presented as female at birth, tests revealed that she lacked a uterus and ovaries, and that she had internal testes.

Citing the risk of testicular cancer, Weigel's doctors convinced her parents to have her testes surgically removed, but Weigel now says the cancer risk was overstated — and that the removal of her testes as an infant led to complications later in life.

"By removing my testes, they basically put my body into artificial hormone withdrawal and didn't give me new hormones until a certain age when they decided it was time to induce puberty on my body," she says. "Puberty that would have happened naturally on its own had they left my body intact."

The Wikipedia article again gives some context:

While it is often recommended that women with CAIS eventually undergo gonadectomy to mitigate cancer risk, there are differing opinions regarding the necessity and timing of gonadectomy. The risk of malignant germ cell tumors in women with CAIS increases with age and has been estimated to be 3.6% at 25 years and 33% at 50 years. However, only three cases of malignant germ cell tumors in prepubescent girls with CAIS have been reported in the last 100 years. The youngest of these girls was 14 years old. If gonadectomy is performed early, then puberty must be artificially induced using gradually increasing doses of estrogen. If gonadectomy is performed late, then puberty will occur on its own, due to the aromatization of testosterone into estrogen.

So the argument, I think, is that the risk of cancer is very low before puberty, and people with CAIS should be involved in the decisions - since it may be pretty safe to allow puberty to happen prior to gonadal removal, at the least, which would obviate the need for surgery as a very young child and hormone replacement as an adolescent (a non trivial burden for a young person).

[-] justdoit@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

Ohhh, I see my confusion now. My original comment was about Swyer syndrome, not CAIS. CAIS and Swyer Syndrome are very similar in concept but have a lot of important differences, especially in gonadal development. Usually in CAIS the testes will develop which can produce sex hormones, while Swyer syndrome leads to streak gonads which are generally functionless. Seems like there’s quite a debate about the timing of gonadectomy in CAIS indeed.

this post was submitted on 17 Jul 2023
216 points (98.2% liked)

Don’t You Know Who I Am?

3807 readers
1 users here now

Posts of people not realising the person they’re talking to, is the person they’re talking about.

Acceptable examples include:

Discussions on any topic are encouraged but arguements are not welcome in this community. Participate in good faith - don’t be aggressive and don’t argue for arguments sake.

The posts here are not original content, the poster is not OP and doesn’t necessarily agree with or condone the views in the post. The poster is not looking to argue with you about the content in the post.

Rules:

This community follows the rules of the lemmy.world instance and the lemmy.org code of conduct. I’ve summarised them here:

  1. Be civil, remember the human.
  2. No insulting or harassing other members. That includes name calling.
  3. Censor any identifying info of private individuals in the posts. This includes surnames and social media handles.
  4. Respect differences of opinion. Civil discussion/debate is fine, arguing is not. Criticise ideas, not people.
  5. Keep unrequested/unstructured critique to a minimum. If you wish to discuss how this community is run please comment on the stickied post so all meta conversations are in one place.
  6. Remember we have all chosen to be here voluntarily. Respect the spent time and effort people have spent creating posts in order to share something they find amusing with you.
  7. Swearing in general is fine, swearing to insult another commenter isn’t.
  8. No racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia or any other type of bigotry.
  9. No incitement of violence or promotion of violent ideologies.

Please report comments that break site or community rules to the mods. If you break the rules you’ll receive one warning before being banned from this community.

PLEASE READ LEMMY.ORG’S CITIZEN CODE OF CONDUCT: https://join-lemmy.org/docs/code_of_conduct.html

PLEASE READ LEMMY.WORLD’S CODE OF CONDUCT: https://lemmy.world/legal

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS