Surgical treatment of congenital malformations of genitalia in children- legal concerns

Genital malformations in children are very heterogeneous. These may be isolated malformations of the external genitalia with a perfectly identified sex (testicular ectopia, hypospadias), common (1/200 to 1/300 births), or more complex anatomical malformations, associated with chromosomal, genetic or endocrine anomalies, with a significant defect in sexual differentiation which can go as far as the impossibility of assigning a sex at birth. The latter are much rarer (1/4,500 to 1/5,500 births) and must imperatively give rise to multidisciplinary care in a reference center for rare diseases according to the Public Health Code, which illustrates the medical necessity. Their surgical treatment is discussed, both in its modalities and in its timing (early or delayed).& COPY; 2022 l'Academie nationale de medecine. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.