The virilisation of a female fetus by overproduction of adrenal androgens secreted by an adrenal gland with 21-hydroxylase deficiency is well known. Although reconstructive genital surgery can greatly improve matters, the long term outlook for reproduction is extremely poor for many reasons, including anatomy. 2 The idea of prenatal treatment of 21hydroxylase deficiency by administering glucoco...

A 52 year old woman presented with a five month history of emotional changes, voice changes, and of abdominal discomfort. Clinical, biochemical, and radiological examinations showed evidence of virilisation, raised testosterone, and a complex ovarian mass. Microscopy of the resection specimen showed the tumour to be a transitional cell carcinoma of the ovary with luteinisation and hyperplasia o...

Hirsutism by definition describes the quality of body hair, implying coarseness, but common usage has extended the meaning to denote an excess of hair-locally or generalised. Body hair is of two types: fine, non-pigmented vellus hair-for example, facial "down"-and coarser pigmented terminal hair as in the scalp and axillas. The visual impression of hairiness is produced by the coarser type. Hir...

Introduction. Female hyperandrogenism is a frequent motive of consultation. It is revealed by hirsutism, acne or seborrhea, and disorders in menstruation cycle combined or not with virilisation signs. Several etiologies are incriminated but the hyperandrogenism-insulin resistance-acanthosis nigricans syndrome is rare. Observation. A 20-year-old girl, having had a five-year-old secondary amenorr...

A premenarcheal girl aged 12 years presented with an abdominopelvic mass and virilisation. A large ovarian cyst was removed at laparotomy. A histological diagnosis of polycystic ovarian syndrome was made, with no evidence of an associated masculinising tumour.

This paper describes the case of a 25-year-old woman with virilisation occurring during pregnancy in the presence of metastatic colorectal cancer. Virilisation during pregnancy is rare. The potential causes include adrenal, foetal, or ovarian pathologies. The most common causes during pregnancy are pregnancy luteoma and hyperreactio luteinalis. The incidence of cancer during pregnancy is rare a...

Cytochrome P450 oxidoreductase deficiency is a recently established autosomal recessive disease characterised by ambiguous genitalia, impaired steroidogenesis, and skeletal malformations, referred to as Antley-Bixler syndrome. Clinical manifestations in affected patients are highly variable. We report on a girl with P450 oxidoreductase deficiency who presented with virilisation at birth. There ...

Resume Les tumeurs à cellules de Sertoli et Leydig sont des tumeurs sécrétantes rares du mésenchyme et des cordons sexuels. Cependant elles constituent l’une des tumeurs le souvent responsables de syndrome de virilisation. La certitude diagnostique est histologique après la chirurgie et il n’ y'a pas de signe échographie spécifique malgré la forte présomption clinique. Le pronostic comme la plu...