Dr. Warne said it is important for guidelines to be evidence based as far as possible, and acknowledged that mistakes have been made in the past, resulting in postoperative gender dysphoria that is extremely difficult to treat and leaves many patients, understandably, feeling deeply aggrieved.
“There are movements dedicated to opposing what is perceived to be current medical practice,” he said. “Having said that, the medical profession accepts that practices need to change, and is trying very hard to develop protocols that better protect the best interests of patients.”
The researchers published a set of ethical principles for the management of infants with DSD (Horm. Res. Paediatr. 2010;74:412-8) that were endorsed by the Fifth World Congress on Family Law and Children's Rights, and are looking to test the principles in Australia and other cultural settings. They also are studying new methods of molecular diagnosis using Next-Gen Sequencing and gene chip technology that may provide swift and accurate diagnoses, he said.