In a bizarre incident, a man of Chinese origin, who sought medical treatment for his enlarged stomach was told by doctors that he was a 'woman' with the female reproductive organ, ovary, inside him.
On examining the patient, doctors at the Hong Kong Kwong Wah found out that the abdominal swelling was a cyst in the man's ovary.
According to doctors, the Vietnamese-born man suffered from rare genetic disorders of Turner Syndrome and Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (CAH).
"The patient, by definition, is a woman who cannot get pregnant. But she also has congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH), which gave her the appearance of a man," Chinese University paediatrics professor Ellis Hon Kam-lun told Press Trust of India.
"It's an interesting and very rare case of having the two combinations. It probably won't be seen again in the near future."
According to doctors, out of 15000 births one girl suffers from CAH which causes the female to develop male features in early life, but the features are not defined and the development is only partial.
In this case, the patient had visible facial hairs on the face akin to beard, and a 'micro-penis' but no testicles, said the report published in Hong Kong Medical Journal.
The effects of Turner Syndrome left the patient with stunted growth measuring just 4.5 metres. His growth stopped at puberty when he was just 10 years of age.
A patient born with Turner syndrome has one X chromosome missing from the regular pair of XX chromosomes, as present in females.
The doctors examining the patient told Agence France Presse (AFP), "Were it not due to the huge ovarian cyst, his intriguing medical condition might never have been exposed."
So far only six cases of such rare genetic disorders have been detected but this patient's condition was diagnosed much later as compared to others.
