EP234: Sexual ambiguity a hereditary condition | PUTTING DR G ON THE SPOT - video Dailymotion

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Consultant urologist Dr George Lee Eng Geap, or a.k.a Dr G, answers queries from a reader who suspects her baby was born with secondary sexual characteristics including ambiguous genitalia.  Read more at https://rb.gy/0lgld6  WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline

Transcript

00:00For the month of August, we're going to do something very interesting and quite different.

00:05We're going to talk about a condition called intersex.

00:15When it comes to intersex, there is a difficulty of differentiating between male and female.

00:21And the most common condition that contributes to intersex is a condition called congenital

00:28adrenal hyperplasia.

00:30By definition, sex is defined as a male or a female, and that is genetically defined

00:37by XX and XY.

00:39However, when a child is born with an external genitalia that doesn't look like the typical

00:47male or female, and that causes an ambiguous genitalia.

00:52In our body, we have an adrenal gland that helps to produce different sort of hormones.

00:58And there are cortisol hormones, which for stress, and also mineral cortisol, which is

01:04actually for the retention of salts, and lastly, sex hormone.

01:09When there's enzyme deficiency, and that can actually causes extra amount of certain hormone.

01:16For example, when somebody suffers from congenital adrenal hyperplasia, then they get less of

01:22cortisol hormones and mineral corticoids, and a lot of that is channeled to sex hormone.

01:27And that happens in a child.

01:30When a child who is a female child is born, if there's too much of androgen that is in

01:36the body, then the child will develop with ambiguous genitalia.

01:41So the child's clitoris, as a female, will actually enlarge and causes what looks like

01:46a tiny penis, and on the other hand, the actual labia might look like scrotum.

01:52So when the child is born, it's difficult to differentiate between a boy and a girl,

01:57and this is a rare condition, which is autosomal recessive condition that is described as congenital

02:04adrenal hyperplasia.

02:07Under this circumstance, a urologist will take charge in order to solve the problem

02:13of something called salt losing phenomenon.

02:17Basically, we replace the salt with additional steroid in order to save the child.

02:23However, later on, there will be tests that is done to differentiate whether this is a

02:29boy or a girl or true hermaphrodites, and that is done by a genetic testing.

02:36The chromosomal analysis of XX or XY will determine whether this is a child who is a

02:42female and developed with male secondary sexual characteristics.

02:48Once that is established, usually the actual hormonal replacement plus a minor surgery

02:54to reassign the child to its original gender, then the problem is solved.

03:00But next week, we're going to talk about a true hermaphrodite when there is a deficiency

03:05in the genes, so instead of getting XX and XY, somebody might get XO or XXY, and so you're

03:14confused, then you need to stay tuned for next week's Putting Dr. G on the Spot.

EP234: Sexual ambiguity a hereditary condition | PUTTING DR G ON THE SPOT

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