Treatment
Upon diagnosis, estrogen and progesterone therapy is typically commenced, prompting the development of female characteristics.
The consequences of streak gonads to a person with Swyer syndrome:
- Gonads cannot make estrogen, so the breasts will not develop and the uterus will not grow and menstruate until estrogen is administered. This is often given transdermally.
- Gonads cannot make progesterone, so menstrual periods will not be predictable until progestin is administered, still usually as a pill.
- Gonads cannot produce eggs so conceiving children naturally is not possible. A woman with a uterus but no ovaries may be able to become pregnant by implantation of another woman's fertilized egg (embryo transfer).
- Streak gonads with Y chromosome-containing cells have a high likelihood of developing cancer, especially gonadoblastoma. Streak gonads are usually removed within a year or so of diagnosis since the cancer can begin during infancy.
Read more about this topic: XY Gonadal Dysgenesis
Famous quotes containing the word treatment:
“[17th-century] Puritans were the first modern parents. Like many of us, they looked on their treatment of children as a test of their own self-control. Their goal was not to simply to ensure the child’s duty to the family, but to help him or her make personal, individual commitments. They were the first authors to state that children must obey God rather than parents, in case of a clear conflict.”
—C. John Sommerville (20th century)
“A regular council was held with the Indians, who had come in on their ponies, and speeches were made on both sides through an interpreter, quite in the described mode,—the Indians, as usual, having the advantage in point of truth and earnestness, and therefore of eloquence. The most prominent chief was named Little Crow. They were quite dissatisfied with the white man’s treatment of them, and probably have reason to be so.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Our treatment of both older people and children reflects the value we place on independence and autonomy. We do our best to make our children independent from birth. We leave them all alone in rooms with the lights out and tell them, “Go to sleep by yourselves.” And the old people we respect most are the ones who will fight for their independence, who would sooner starve to death than ask for help.”
—Margaret Mead (1901–1978)