Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2022 Jan;129(1):113-122.
doi: 10.1111/bju.15521. Epub 2021 Jul 21.

Prostate cancer in transgender women: what does a urologist need to know?

Mariana Bertoncelli Tanaka  1   2 , Kirpal Sahota  3 , James Burn  1   4 , Alison Falconer  1   5 , Mathias Winkler  1   2 , Hashim U Ahmed  1   2 , Tina G Rashid  1 ; Gender Research Collaborative
Affiliations
Review

Prostate cancer in transgender women: what does a urologist need to know?

Mariana Bertoncelli Tanaka et al. BJU Int. 2022 Jan.

Erratum in

Abstract

Objective: To review of the existing literature, current guidelines and standard of practice related to prostate cancer in transgender women, as the transgender population share many of the same healthcare needs as their cisgender counterparts, but may have additional specialist needs.

Materials and methods: We performed a non-systematic review of the literature, current guidelines and standard of practice related to prostate cancer in transgender women.

Results: Our search revealed 10 case reports of prostate cancer in transgender women, four specialist opinion papers, six cohort studies, and four systematic reviews. The information in these publications were assimilated to produce a review of prostate cancer in transgender women.

Conclusion: The risk of prostate cancer in transgender women who are not on gender-affirming hormone therapy (GAHT) or who have not had gender-affirming surgery (GAS) and gender non-conforming individuals (who may never commence GAHT or have GAS) is the same as that in the cis male population. In these patients, healthcare professionals need to be able to discuss screening, diagnostic and treatment options considering future wishes for gender-affirming treatment. Prostate cancer incidence in transgender women on GAHT or following GAS is lower than age-matched cis-male counterparts, but diagnosis and treatment is more nuanced. The present review discusses the existing literature about development and incidence of prostate cancer in this population, and makes recommendations about screening, the usefulness of diagnostic tools e.g. prostate-specific antigen and magnetic resonance imaging, and considerations when formulating treatment. Potential directions for future research are discussed, which will hopefully lead to development of robust evidence-based guidelines for the diagnosis and management of prostate cancer in transgender women.

Keywords: gender identity; gender-affirming hormone therapy; gender-affirming surgery; male-to-female; prostate cancer; transgender; transsexual.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Arcelus J, Bouman WP, Van Den Noortgate W, Claes L, Witcomb G, Fernandez-Aranda F. Systematic review and meta-analysis of prevalence studies in transsexualism. Eur Psychiatry. 2015; 30: 807-15
    1. Dhejne C, Van Vlerken R, Heylens G, Arcelus J. Mental health and gender dysphoria: A review of the literature. Int Rev Psychiatry. 2016; 28: 44-57
    1. Yarns BC, Abrams JM, Meeks TW, Sewell DD. The Mental Health of Older LGBT Adults. Curr Psychiatry Rep. 2016; 18: 60
    1. Poteat T, German D, Kerrigan D. Managing uncertainty: a grounded theory of stigma in transgender health care encounters. Soc Sci Med 2013; 84: 22-9
    1. Grant JM, Mottet LA, Tanis J et al. National Transgender Discrimination Survey Report on Health and Health Care, Washington, DC: National Center for Transgender Equality and National Gay andLesbian Task Force: 2010

LinkOut - more resources