Fortis hospital makes ‘He’ from ‘She’ by complex Gender Reassignment Surgery

Bengaluru: She became He after 20 year thanks to successful complex Gender Reassignment Surgery conducted by a team of Doctors at Fortis Hospital here.

A 20-year-old patient with disorder of sex development (DSD) successfully underwent a gender reassignment surgery (GRS) by a team of doctors led by Dr Mohan Keshavamurthy, Director, Department of Urology- Urology, Uro-oncology, Andrology - Transplant & Robotic Surgery and Dr Basavaraj Neelgar- Consultant Urology, Uro-oncology, Andrology - Transplant & Robotic Surgery, Fortis Hospital, Bangalore.

According to a statement here on Thursday, the patient was suffering from disorder of sex development (DSD), a condition which is a mismatch between a child’s chromosomes, or genetic material, and the appearance of the individual’s genitals. An individual may present with a DSD in infancy, childhood or adolescence.

The 20-year-old brought up as female developed masculine secondary sexual characteristics at 10 years of age. She had visited Fortis Hospital where she was diagnosed with male Pseudohermaphroditism, a condition in an individual with external genitalia resembling those of a female testis.  On further evaluation, the patient was found to have male gonads intra-abdominal testicles, underdeveloped penis and perineal Hypospadias and a rudimentary vagina.

Dr Mohan Keshavamurthy said, “While conducting a gender reassignment surgery from a male to a female is easy, the female to a male reassignment is a complex and time consuming process. This patient had 46,XY karyotype which is a genetic condition that reveals that one is dealing with a genetic male who was under masculinized during fetal development. We started the reassignment procedure by moving an undescended testicle into the scrotum and permanently fix it there using Da vinci system. It was followed by repair of perineal Hypospadias wherein the opening of the urethra is like that of a female, by constructing 10cm of additional tube using Buccal mucosaa technique known as buccal mucosal urethroplasty and the rudimentary vagina was excised.

In addition, a malleable penile prosthesis was inserted into the rudimentary corpora tissue that enlarges with blood for the process of male erection and enables him to perform sexually as a potent male. Malleable Penile Implant Is an Effective Therapeutic Option in Men with Erectile Dysfunction. The patient stayed over a period of one week and was discharged in a stable condition, “he added.

Dr Basavaraj Neelgar, stated that, “Gender Reassignment Surgery(GRS) has become more common today in India as recognition both social and legal is provided for the LGBTQ+ community. The need to allow an individual person to have an appropriate body habitus to the make-up of the mind is extremely important for the holistic living.”

“NCBI” states that Buccal mucosa is an ideal urethral substitute because of ease of harvest, surgical handling characteristics, hairlessness, compatibility in a wet environment, and its early in-growth and graft survival. Because of these unique characteristics, buccal mucosa has endeared itself to the realm of reconstructive urology.” (UNI)