An analysis of 166 patients with hyperprolactinemia

Objective To study the clinical manifestations and treatment methods of hyperprolactinemia (HPRL), a common disorder encountered in clinical practice, and explore its association with prolactinomas. Methods The clinical data, hormone profile and imaging data of 166females with documented HPRL, admitted to our hospital from January 2005 to January 2010, for over a period of 5 years, including 4 years of retrospective analysis and 1 year of prospective study, were retrospectively analyzed. Results Most patients aged 20-40 with abnormal menstruation as their most common symptom; 141 patients (84.9％) appeared abnormal menstruation and 1 14 (68.7％) with galactorrhea. Microadenoma was noted in 62 patients (37.3％), nonfunctioning pituitary macroadenoma involved stalk occurred in 26 patients (15.7％). As compared with that in patients with idiopathic HPRL ([93.9±20.4]ng/mL), the level ofprolactin in patients with microprolactinoma ([161.2±60.6]ng/mL) was significantly higher (P＜0.05); as compared with that in patients with prolactin microadenoma, the level of prolactin in patients with domperidone caused drug-induced HPRL ([240.2±29.4]ng/mL) was obviously increased (P＜0.05). Conclusion We cannot confirm whether a HPRL patient has prolactinomas only through detecting the level of prolactin. Microprolactinoma is the most common cause of HPRL, followed by idiopathic cause. Key words: Prolactin;  Hyperprolactinemia;  Microprolactinoma;  Bromocriptine