Pregnancy in the hyperprolactinaemic patient.

Abstract

Once other causes of hyperprolactinaemia have been excluded it is reasonable to assume that the cause lies within the hypothalamus or the pituitary. The pituitary may be the site of lactotroph hypertrophy and hyperplasia, a micro-adenoma or a macro-adenoma. Sixty-nine pregnancies in 53 patients, who required treatment of hyperprolactinaemia prior to the onset of pregnancy, have been observed. It is the purpose of this review to describe these patients, discuss the effects of pregnancy upon any pituitary lesion, and to discuss the effects of hyperprolactinaemia or the treatment of hyperprolactinaemia upon pregnancy. Based upon experience and the discussion of these data, recommendations for treatment of the hyperprolactinaemic pregnant patient will be made.