A patient with 46,XY/47,XYY karyotype and female phenotype: a case report

BACKGROUND: 47,XYY is a chromosomal abnormality syndrome that is typically observed in patients with a male phenotype. Few patients with XYY syndrome will have infertility. We here report a case of 46,XY/47,XYY syndrome diagnosed in a patient with a female phenotype. CASE PRESENTATION: A 15-year-old patient with a female phenotype visited our hospital owing to a chief complaint of short stature as of the age of 6 years. She was diagnosed with dwarf syndrome at the age of 10, but no change was noted after 2 months of growth hormone treatment. The patient’s height was 136 cm and the weight was 29 kg, both of which were below the third percentile for her age/gender. In addition to short stature, the 4th and 5th metacarpals were short and there was no significant sex development. Karyotype analysis showed 47,XYY, and chromosomal microarray examination showed a chimera of 46,XY/47,XYY. CONCLUSION: This is an extremely rare case of 47,XYY abnormality in a patient with a female phenotype, with only one such known case reported previously. Since the cause is unknown, and symptoms of this syndrome are highly atypical and variable in childhood, clinicians should be aware of this possibility to avoid misdiagnosis and offer counseling and hormone therapy as needed to patients and their parents to improve their quality of life.