Breaking Healthcare Barriers for Transgender Individuals With Rare Tumor Presentation

Transgender persons can experience healthcare barriers and potentially suffer from preventable health disparities. Some challenges these individuals may face include the lack of provider education, social stigma, socioeconomic barriers to care, and insurance instability. Combating this problem requires systemic changes. Unfortunately, there are limited data on providers’ perspective on taking care of transgender persons, and healthcare delivery systems are often unequipped to adequately manage these patients. This case presentation exemplifies many of these challenges. A 47-year-old transgender female with a history of testicular cancer, presented with bleeding from a lump on her neck. A computed tomography (CT) scan of the neck revealed a large mass suspicious of malignancy. Pathology identified metastatic colorectal adenocarcinoma. Esophagogastroduodenoscopy, colonoscopy, positron emission tomography scan, CT abdomen/pelvis, and serum tumor marker showed no evidence of a primary gastrointestinal malignancy. This presentation likely represents a late relapse of a residual, metastatic germ cell tumor with malignant somatic transformation. This case was greatly impacted by social determinants of health. The patient did not identify with her male anatomy, which delayed the detection of the initial testicular malignancy. In the post-operative period, the patient did not attend follow-up appointments to avoid discussing her male genitalia. When tumor relapse did occur, the patient experienced financial, insurance, and transportation instability; this delayed medical care and allowed the mass to grow to an extraordinary size.