Pregnancy, prolactin, and pituitary tumours

Nine pregnancies are described in patients with pituitary tumours. All patients had definite radiological evidence of a pituitary tumour and no evidence of acromegaly or Cushing's disease. In seven patients serum prolactin levels were estimated before pregnancy and found to be raised.Seven patients had been treated with pituitary implantation of yttrium-90. The remaining two developed complications of the tumour during pregnancy. One developed a bitemporal visual field defect in the second trimester which was successfully treated by emergency yttrium-90 implantation. The other developed diabetes insipidus in the third trimester which resolved spontaneously after delivery.Six patients were treated with drugs to achieve pregnancy. Four took bromocriptine to suppress raised prolactin levels, one was treated with human menopausal gonadotrophin, and one was treated with clomiphene.