Can Women Get Prostate Cancer? Skene’s Glands, Rare Cancers, and Urinary Symptoms

Direct answer: Most cisgender women and other people born without a typical prostate gland do not develop conventional prostate cancer. They do have Skene’s glands—small paraurethral glands that are developmentally related to prostate tissue—but benign cysts, duct blockage, or abscesses are more relevant to common symptoms than the exceptionally rare tumors reported in these glands. A Skene’s-gland or female urethral tumor should not be casually called ordinary prostate cancer. Transgender women and some intersex people may retain prostate tissue depending on anatomy and surgery and can develop prostate conditions, including prostate cancer. Symptoms should be evaluated according to the organs present; routine serum PSA screening is not established for people without a typical prostate.

Part of the Ulta Lab Tests Knowledge Center

• Use The Complete Guide to Lab Tests and Blood Work to understand what laboratory testing can and cannot establish.
• Review Cancer Blood Tests and Tumor Markers for the distinction between a marker, diagnostic support, and tissue diagnosis.
• People who retain prostate tissue and are reviewing a PSA result can use PSA Levels Explained: Results, Causes and Next Steps with anatomy-appropriate professional guidance.

Key Takeaways

• Conventional prostate cancer arises in prostate tissue. Most cisgender women do not have a typical prostate gland.
• Skene’s glands are paraurethral glands related to the prostate in development and marker expression, but they are not simply a second name for the usual prostate.
• Skene’s-duct cysts, obstruction, and abscesses are benign. Symptoms overlap with urinary infection, urethral diverticulum, pelvic-floor conditions, and other periurethral lesions.
• Primary Skene’s-gland and female urethral cancers are exceptionally rare; the evidence consists mainly of case reports, small case series, and reviews of those reports.
• Tissue staining for PSA or other prostate-associated markers is different from using a serum PSA blood test for screening.
• Urinalysis and urine culture may address selected infection or urinary questions but cannot diagnose a cyst, diverticulum, abscess, or tumor.
• Transgender women who retain a prostate need anatomy-appropriate care. Feminizing hormone therapy may lower PSA and complicate interpretation.

Who Has Prostate Tissue?

Gender identity does not by itself reveal which organs a person has. Most cisgender women were born without a typical prostate gland. Most transgender women were born with a prostate, and common gender-affirming genital surgeries generally do not remove the entire prostate. Some intersex people have anatomy that does not fit typical male or female patterns. A medical history should therefore ask respectfully about organs present, prior surgery, hormone therapy, and symptoms.

A person who retains a prostate can develop BPH, prostatitis, or prostate cancer regardless of gender identity. A person without a typical prostate is not a routine candidate for conventional prostate-cancer screening.

What Are Skene’s or Paraurethral Glands?

Skene’s glands are small glands and ducts located near the lower urethra and urethral opening. They are considered homologous—developmentally related—to prostate tissue and can express prostate-associated proteins in tissue. Their exact function and variability are still studied.

The term “female prostate” appears in anatomy and pathology literature, but it can mislead patients into assuming that the glands have the same size, clinical behavior, screening program, and common cancers as a typical prostate. “Skene’s glands” or “paraurethral glands” is clearer.

Common Benign Skene’s-Gland Conditions

Duct Obstruction and Cyst

A blocked Skene’s duct can form a fluid-filled cyst near the urethral opening. A small cyst may cause no symptoms. A larger or inflamed lesion may cause a palpable lump, painful urination, pain with sexual activity, recurrent urinary symptoms, altered urine flow, or—rarely—retention.

Abscess

A cyst or gland can become infected and form an abscess, which may cause localized pain, swelling, tenderness, redness, urinary symptoms, or systemic illness. Examination is important because a Skene’s lesion can resemble a urethral diverticulum, Bartholin-gland lesion, vaginal cyst, urethral lesion, or another periurethral mass.

These benign conditions are not cancer and do not become “prostate cancer” merely because Skene’s tissue shares developmental or molecular features with prostate tissue.

Rare Skene’s-Gland and Female Urethral Cancers

Primary cancers arising from Skene’s glands have been described, most often as adenocarcinomas with prostate-like features. Female urethral cancers can also arise from other urethral tissues. Both categories are rare, and Skene’s-gland malignancy is especially uncommon.

Evidence limitation: There is no large screening trial, population-based symptom rule, or universally accepted Skene’s-gland screening program. Published evidence is dominated by individual case reports, small case series, pathology reviews, and systematic reviews that combine a very small number of reports. Those publications help specialists recognize anatomy and tissue patterns but cannot establish routine serum screening or a standard self-testing pathway.

Symptoms, Possible Explanations, and Next Evaluation

Symptom or finding	Possible benign explanations	Possible serious explanations	Limited laboratory role	Examination or procedure that may be needed	Urgency
Burning, frequency, or urgency	Urinary infection, irritation, urethritis, cyst, pelvic-floor or bladder condition	Complicated infection, obstruction, urethral or bladder lesion	Urinalysis Complete Test; Culture, Urine, Routine Test when bacterial infection is a defined question	History, pelvic or urologic examination; imaging or cystoscopy when persistent or atypical	Prompt with fever, chills, severe pain, retention, or systemic illness
Palpable periurethral lump	Skene’s cyst, urethral diverticulum, inclusion or other benign cyst	Solid urethral, vaginal, or Skene’s-gland tumor	Routine blood and urine tests cannot characterize tissue	Focused examination, ultrasound or MRI; cystoscopy or biopsy if indicated	Prompt if rapidly enlarging, bleeding, obstructing, or very painful
Pain with sexual activity or localized urethral pain	Cyst, inflammation, pelvic-floor pain, infection, trauma	Persistent mass or other lesion	Urine testing may address infection only	Pelvic examination and anatomy-directed imaging when persistent	Routine to prompt depending on severity and associated findings
Bleeding from the urethra or visible blood in urine	Infection, stone, trauma, benign urethral lesion	Urethral, bladder, kidney, or other urinary-tract cancer	Urinalysis may document blood but cannot identify its source	Prompt professional evaluation; imaging and cystoscopy may be needed	Prompt; urgent with heavy bleeding, clots, dizziness, or retention
Difficulty starting urine, weak flow, or retention	Cyst, diverticulum, pelvic-floor dysfunction, medicine effect, neurologic or bladder disorder	Obstructing mass or severe infection	Laboratory tests do not measure obstruction	Examination, residual measurement, imaging, cystoscopy or urethroscopy	Complete inability to urinate is urgent
Symptoms in a transgender woman who retains a prostate	BPH, prostatitis, infection, bladder or pelvic-floor conditions	Prostate or urinary-tract cancer	PSA or urine testing may add context when selected for the anatomy and question	Gender-affirming history, examination, imaging or biopsy as indicated	Based on the same warning signs and overall condition

What Laboratory Testing May Reveal

• Urinalysis may show blood, white cells, nitrite, protein, glucose, or other urine findings.
• A properly collected urine culture may show bacterial growth and, when reported, antimicrobial susceptibility.
• Blood testing may contribute to assessment of systemic illness, kidney function, or another defined health question when selected by a clinician.
• For a person who retains a typical prostate, serum PSA may contribute to an anatomy-appropriate prostate risk discussion.
• In tissue, a pathologist may use immunohistochemistry, including prostate-associated and other markers, to classify a rare tumor.

What Laboratory Testing Cannot Reveal

• Whether a periurethral lump is a cyst, diverticulum, abscess, benign solid lesion, or cancer.
• Where a lesion originates or whether it communicates with the urethra.
• Whether a suspicious mass has invaded nearby tissue.
• Whether symptoms come from Skene’s glands, bladder, urethra, pelvic floor, vulva, vagina, or another organ.
• Whether cancer is present without appropriate tissue evaluation.

Why PSA Is Not a Routine Screening Test for Skene’s-Gland Disease

PSA can refer to a protein measured in serum or to a marker detected in tissue. A rare Skene’s-gland tumor may show PSA staining on immunohistochemistry, and occasional reports describe measurable serum PSA in a documented tumor. Those observations do not establish serum PSA as a screening test for cisgender women or other people without a typical prostate.

There is no validated population screening interval, decision threshold, or evidence that routine serum PSA improves outcomes for Skene’s-gland disease. A specialist may choose serum PSA in the workup or monitoring of a documented rare tumor, but that is different from routine direct-access testing.

Urinalysis and Urine Culture for Selected Questions

The Urinalysis Complete Test may help document urinary blood or infection-related findings. The Culture, Urine, Routine Test may help when bacterial urinary infection is a reasonable question. Collection quality, recent antibiotics, symptoms, and contamination affect interpretation.

A normal result does not exclude a Skene’s cyst, abscess, urethral diverticulum, solid periurethral lesion, or cancer. A positive result does not prove that a Skene’s gland is the source.

Examination, Imaging, Cystoscopy, Biopsy, and Pathology

1. History and examination: location, size, tenderness, drainage, bleeding, relation to the urethra, surgery, hormones, urinary symptoms, and systemic illness help define the question.
2. Ultrasound or MRI: imaging can distinguish a cystic from a solid lesion and assess its relationship to the urethra and nearby structures. MRI is especially useful for complex periurethral anatomy.
3. Cystoscopy or urethroscopy: a clinician can inspect the urethral lumen and bladder and assess whether a lesion communicates with the urinary tract.
4. Biopsy: a suspicious solid or atypical lesion may require tissue sampling.
5. Pathology and immunohistochemistry: a pathologist examines architecture and markers to determine tumor type and possible site of origin. No single stain should be interpreted in isolation.

Transgender Women and Others Who Retain Prostate Tissue

Most transgender women retain their prostate even after genital surgery. Prostate conditions and cancer remain possible, although available incidence and screening evidence is limited. Feminizing hormone therapy and orchiectomy can lower PSA, so values and historical thresholds developed in cisgender men may not transfer directly. Recent studies show many estrogen-treated transgender women have very low or undetectable PSA, which can create false reassurance if interpretation ignores hormone exposure.

Screening decisions should consider actual anatomy, age, family history, Black ancestry, inherited risk, hormone exposure, surgery, overall health, and preferences. This article does not provide a separate universal cutoff or schedule. Persistent symptoms, an abnormal examination, or a concerning trend deserves professional evaluation even when PSA is low.

Educational framework—not a diagnostic or treatment algorithm.

1. Clarify anatomy. Identify organs present, prior pelvic or gender-affirming surgery, and hormone exposure without assuming from identity alone.
2. Check warning signs. Retention, fever with rapidly worsening urinary symptoms, severe pain, heavy bleeding, systemic illness, or a rapidly enlarging mass should bypass routine testing.
3. Define the main question. Is the concern infection, bleeding, a palpable mass, obstruction, a retained prostate, or another urinary condition?
4. Use laboratory tests only for questions they can answer. Urine testing may assess selected infection or bleeding findings; serum PSA applies mainly to retained prostate tissue and specialist-directed rare-tumor contexts.
5. Evaluate tissue and anatomy directly when needed. Examination, imaging, cystoscopy, biopsy, and pathology may be more informative than another blood test.
6. Match the specialist. Gynecology, urogynecology, urology, radiology, pathology, or oncology may be needed depending on the finding.

When Direct-Access Testing Is Not the Right First Step

• A new or enlarging periurethral mass.
• Complete inability to urinate, heavy or persistent bleeding, severe pain, or systemic illness.
• Persistent urinary symptoms despite negative urine tests.
• A suspected abscess requiring examination and possible drainage.
• A transgender woman with an abnormal examination, concerning symptoms, or a complex PSA history on hormone therapy.
• Any attempt to use PSA, a blood count, an inflammation marker, HPV testing, urinalysis, or urine culture as a stand-alone cancer screen or diagnosis.

Review when direct-access laboratory testing fits—and when professional evaluation should come first.

How to Read a Urine or PSA Result in Context

Reference intervals, positive or negative findings, and trends answer laboratory questions; they do not replace anatomy. Use How to Read and Understand Your Lab Results to review units, flags, collection factors, biological variation, and confirmatory testing. A result should never delay evaluation of a persistent mass, bleeding, obstruction, severe pain, or systemic symptoms.

Questions to Ask a Gynecologist, Urogynecologist, Urologist, or Other Clinician

1. Which organs and tissues are relevant to my symptoms and surgical history?
2. Is the finding next to the urethra, connected to it, or arising from another structure?
3. Could this be a cyst, abscess, urethral diverticulum, or another benign condition?
4. Would urine testing answer a defined infection or bleeding question?
5. Do I need ultrasound, pelvic MRI, cystoscopy, or urethroscopy?
6. What features would make biopsy appropriate?
7. If tissue is sampled, which pathology and immunohistochemistry expertise is needed?
8. If I retain a prostate, how do hormone therapy and surgery affect PSA interpretation?
9. Which symptoms require urgent care?

Frequently Asked Questions

Can cisgender women get conventional prostate cancer?

Most cisgender women do not have a typical prostate gland and therefore do not develop conventional prostate cancer. Rare Skene’s-gland or urethral tumors are separate entities.

What are Skene’s glands?

They are small paraurethral glands near the lower urethra. They are developmentally related to the prostate and can express some prostate-associated markers.

Are Skene’s glands the same as a prostate?

No. “Female prostate” is an analogy used in some literature. The anatomy, disease frequency, screening evidence, and clinical pathways are not identical.

Can transgender women get prostate cancer?

Yes, if prostate tissue remains. Most gender-affirming genital surgery does not remove the entire prostate.

Can Skene’s glands produce PSA?

Skene’s tissue can express PSA, and rare tumors may show PSA on tissue staining. That does not make serum PSA a routine screening test for Skene’s-gland disease.

Should women get PSA blood tests?

Routine PSA screening is not established for people without a typical prostate. People who retain prostate tissue need an individualized discussion based on anatomy, risk, hormones, surgery, and preferences.

What symptoms need evaluation?

A periurethral lump, persistent painful urination, recurrent urinary symptoms, bleeding, pain with sexual activity, obstruction, retention, or localized pain deserves professional evaluation.

Can a urine test diagnose a Skene’s-gland tumor?

No. Urine tests can address selected infection or bleeding questions. A suspicious mass may require examination, imaging, cystoscopy, biopsy, and pathology.

Is a Skene’s cyst cancer?

No. A cyst is benign. Imaging or tissue evaluation may be needed when a lesion is solid, atypical, persistent, enlarging, bleeding, or obstructing.

Does a normal urinalysis rule out a periurethral mass?

No. Urinalysis evaluates urine, not the tissue nature of a mass or its relationship to the urethra.

Does a low PSA rule out prostate cancer in a transgender woman on estrogen?

No. Estrogen and reduced androgen exposure may lower PSA. Interpretation requires hormone, surgical, symptom, examination, and trend context.

Can Women Get Prostate Cancer? The Answer Depends on Anatomy

Most cisgender women do not develop conventional prostate cancer. Skene’s glands can develop benign cysts or abscesses and exceptionally rare tumors, but those diseases should not be collapsed into ordinary prostate cancer. Transgender women and others who retain prostate tissue can develop prostate conditions. Focused urine testing may support selected questions; persistent symptoms or a mass requires anatomy-directed examination, imaging, and—when indicated—pathology.

Primary References

1. Government cancer reference: Urethral Cancer Treatment. National Cancer Institute. Patient version updated July 10, 2022; health-professional version updated July 19, 2024.
2. Peer-reviewed systematic review: Skene’s Gland Malignancy: A Case Report and Systematic Review. Urology. 2022. Review of rare published cases.
3. Peer-reviewed systematic review: Skene Gland Adenocarcinoma of the Urethra: A Systematic Review. Asian Journal of Surgery. 2024.
4. Peer-reviewed radiology review: Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Paraurethral and Paravaginal Lesion: Relevant Diagnoses, Key Findings and Surgical Planning. Translational Andrology and Urology. 2025.
5. Peer-reviewed cohort study: Prostate-Specific Antigen Values in Transgender Women Receiving Estrogen. JAMA. 2024.
6. Peer-reviewed observational study: Prostate Cancer Screening Uptake in Transgender Women. JAMA Network Open. 2024.
7. Government cancer reference: Tests and Procedures Used to Diagnose Cancer. National Cancer Institute. Updated January 17, 2023.

Medical Disclaimer and Commercial Disclosure

This content is educational and does not provide individual diagnosis or treatment. Laboratory testing does not replace medical history, anatomy review, physical examination, imaging, cystoscopy, biopsy, pathology, specialist evaluation, or emergency care.

Ulta Lab Tests offers laboratory-testing services and may link to tests or panels discussed on this page. This content is educational and does not provide individual diagnosis or treatment.

Originally published: December 23, 2023 | Substantively updated: September 2, 2026