Disorders of Sex Development - Ambiguous Genitalia

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7 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Disorders of sex development (DSD) encompass a wide range of congenital conditions with diverse features and pathophysiology, which usually present in the newborn period or during adolescence (Ahmed et al., 2015), where the development of chromosomal, gonadal or anatomic sex is atypical (Rothkopf & John, 2014). Ambiguous genitalia is a term to describe how a baby's genitals look different than the genitals of most other boys and girls (Achermann, Eugster, & Shulman, 2011). It may mean that parents and healthcare professionals may not be able to correctly identify the sex of the baby. In some cases, it may be that a girl's clitoris is so enlarged that it may look like a small penis, or the labia may be so fused together that it looks like a boy's scrotum. It has been estimated that in around 1 in every 4500 live births, babies have genitalia that is ambiguous enough to not be able to assign a sex immediately (Michala, Liao, Wood, Conway, & Creighton, 2014), but some types of genital abnormalities may occur in as many as 1 in every 300 births (Rothkopf & John, 2014). True cases of absolute ambiguous genitalia are rare, but it is likely that the pediatric nurse will come across a case in their career.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)463 - 466
JournalJournal of Pediatric Nursing
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 13 May 2016

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