TRUE HERMAPHRODITISM: ENDOCRINE STUDIES IN A CASE OF OVOTESTIS

THE occurrence of both male and female gonads in one person is of sufficient rarity to invite thorough study of such a case. Pseudohermaphroditism is not uncommon, but the occurrence in one person of one ovary and testis, or an ovotestis, proved histologically, has been reported only 40 times in the literature (1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7). Excellent reviews of true hermaphroditism have been written by McIver and associates (4) and Young (7). In both of these reports the predominant abnormality was the presence of ovotestes, either unilateral or bilateral. Only seven true ovaries were found in the series, and six true testes; the remainder (except for four gonads of undetermined type) were ovotestes. The clinical features of these cases were such as to cause suspicion of hermaphroditism with insufficient development of the attributes of either sex. The rarity of this condition warrants the report of such a case in detail. D. M. (T-46–226172), a negro “female,” aged 36, was admitted to Charity Hospital in New Orleans on July 18, 1946, because of a “mass between her legs”, which had been present as long as she could remember, but which had recently increased so much in size as to cause local discomfort.