[Hyperprolactinemia and pregnancy]

Prolactin is a polipeptidic hormone secreted by the anterior pituitary gland, whose main role consists in the stimulation of lactation in the postpartum period. The increasing of prolactin secretion can be physiological (pregnancy and lactation) or pathological (hypothalamic and pituitary diseases, iatrogenic, etc.). The suppression of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis and the resistivity of the ovary and gonadotropin action are induced in hyperprolactinemia, the amenorrhea and lack of ovulation being the result. Infertility associated with hyperprolactinemia is reversible with treatment, irrespectively to the type of treatment (radical or medical). Lowering of prolactin levels to normal or near normal is often necessary to permit ovulation. Dopamine-like drogs, as bromocriptine, appear to be safe for the developing fetus, at lest when the treatment is interrupted in the first trimester of pregnancy.