Prolactin Disorders

A prolactinoma is a tumor on the pituitary gland that produces too much prolactin (milk hormone). It is the most common secretory tumor (accounting for about 40% of pituitary tumors).

Symptoms of prolactinoma include:

• Changes in menstrual cycle/complete loss of periods
• Headaches
• Infertility
• Milk discharge from breasts in women (not related to giving birth) or men
• Vision disturbances
• Pain during intercourse/dryness in vagina
• Mood changes and depression
• Reduced sex drive
• Osteoporosis (because of inadequate function of the ovaries in women, leading to estrogen deficiency and inadequate function of the testes in men leading to testosterone deficiency)
• Inadequate function of the testes (in males) leading to impotence (inability to get or maintain an erection) or infertility

Treatment for prolactinoma :

About 80-90% of prolactinoma patients can be treated successfully with medication. The medication is a dopamine agonist drug. The use of a dopamine agonist should eliminate or reduce symptoms of a high prolactin level, return your prolactin levels to normal, help restore normal function to the pituitary, and usually reduce the tumor size.

This medication is taken in tablet form. Your doctor will monitor your prolactin levels and make adjustments if necessary depending on prolactin levels symptoms and tumor size. The most common side effects are nausea and dizziness. Sometimes drug treatment is not effective, so your doctor might recommend surgery. Radiation therapy is rarely used in the management of large tumors. Some patients with very small tumors, which are stable in size and do not have any associated symptoms, may be monitored carefully without treatment.