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A very rare case of breast cancer in a female-to-male transsexual

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Abstract

The incidence of breast cancer in female-to-male (FTM) transsexuals who received mastectomy and sex reassignment surgery is very rare. In fact, there is only one previous medical report of such a case. We experienced a case of an FTM transsexual who developed breast cancer 12 years after mastectomy and hysterectomy with bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy. Because he had been continuously receiving testosterone during the last 15 years and because histopathological examination revealed positive estrogen receptor and androgen receptor expression, we suggest that exogenous testosterone may have initiated the development of breast cancer via two distinct pathways. We describe the clinical course and condition of the patient and recommend that medical personnel consider the possibility of hormone-related cancer in FTM transsexuals receiving cross-sex hormones.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Editage (www.editage.jp) for English language editing.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plastic Surgery, Okayama University Hospital, 2-5-1 Shikata-cho, Kita-ku, Okayama-shi, Okayama, 700-8558, Japan

    Yuko Katayama, Satoko Watanabe, Saiga Miho & Yoshihiro Kimata

  2. Department of Gender Center, Okayama University Hospital, 2-5-1 Shikata-cho, Kita-ku, Okayama-shi, Okayama, 700-8558, Japan

    Yuzaburo Nanba

  3. Department of Breast and Endocrinological Surgery, Okayama University Hospital, 2-5-1 Shikata-cho, Kita-ku, Okayama-shi, Okayama, 700-8558, Japan

    Takayuki Motoki, Junji Matsuoka & Hiroyoshi Doihara

Authors
  1. Yuko Katayama
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  2. Takayuki Motoki
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  3. Satoko Watanabe
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  4. Saiga Miho
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  5. Yoshihiro Kimata
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  6. Junji Matsuoka
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  7. Hiroyoshi Doihara
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  8. Yuzaburo Nanba
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yuko Katayama.

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Katayama, Y., Motoki, T., Watanabe, S. et al. A very rare case of breast cancer in a female-to-male transsexual. Breast Cancer 23, 939–944 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12282-015-0661-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12282-015-0661-4

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