Endocrine Abstracts

Ambiguity of the external genitalia constitutes an emergency requiring evaluation by a medical team. Issues of prime importance to be dealt with are: 1) the pathogenetic mechanism involved, 2) the sex assignment, and 3) the timing of corrective surgery. Non-palpable gonads indicate an XX individual, virilized during fetal life from androgens originating from the mother or the fetal adrenal. In such cases assignment should be on the female sex. Palpable gonads denote an XY unde...

The Intersex Society of North America stated in 1993 that “Intersex Genital Surgery in Infancy is a form of child sexual abuse”. This peremptory statement based on outcome data judged from outdated medical and surgical procedures, leaded to an even more accurate surgical management of the intersex baby.An etiological precise diagnosis of the condition and of the FURTHER post-pubertal sexual abilities of the patient, is mandatory before surgery....

The way in which children with complex genital anomalies are managed is the subject of controversy and in a state of flux. The practice of early childhood genital surgery has been challenged in relation to both consent issues and functional outcomes.For the past fifty years practice has been informed by the so called optimal gender policy which proposed that in disorders of sexual development (DSD) gender assignment should be that which allows optimal ps...