The sudden and unexpected death of a female-to-male transsexual patient.
A 32-year-old woman, who was intramuscularly injected with testosterone enanthate (125 mg) once or twice a month over a two-year period for female-to-male transsexualism, died suddenly. A forensic autopsy was performed to investigate the cause of death. Concentric cardiac hypertrophy was macroscopically observed. In the left and right coronary arteries, atherosclerosis was generally observed within the endothelium. In particular, there was severe stenosis (>90%) at the start of the left descending branch. In the myocardium, both coagulation necrosis and contraction band necrosis were microscopically observed. Moreover, myocardial fibrosis and myocardial calcification were diffusely detected, respectively. The cause of death was diagnosed as ischemic heart disease due to coronary stenosis. There is some debate as to whether cross-hormone replacement is related to the occurrence of coronary artery disease or not, however, it is possible that the development of ischemic heart disease was aggravated by the administration of testosterone enanthate in the current case.
Inoue
Hiromasa
H
Department of Forensic Medicine and Sciences, Institute of Social and Environmental Medicine, Mie University Graduate School of Medicine, Edobashi 2-174, Tsu, Mie, Japan. inoueh@doc.medic.mie-u.ac.jp
Nishida
Naoki
N
Ikeda
Noriaki
N
Tsuji
Akiko
A
Kudo
Keiko
K
Hanagama
Masakazu
M
Nata
Masayuki
M
D000328:Adult; D000728:Androgens / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects; D023921:Coronary Stenosis / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis; D003645:Death, Sudden / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D049429:Forensic Pathology; D020249:Hormone Replacement Therapy / Q000009:adverse effects; D006801:Humans; D017379:Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular / Q000473:pathology; D007273:Injections, Intramuscular; D009200:Myocardial Contraction; D017202:Myocardial Ischemia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D009206:Myocardium / Q000473:pathology; D009336:Necrosis / Q000473:pathology; D013739:Testosterone / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000031:analogs & derivatives; D014189:Transsexualism
D000728:Androgens; D013739:Testosterone; C004648:testosterone enanthate