[Anti-tumorous effect of bromocriptine in prolactin-secreting adenomas. A case-report (author's transl)]

Bromocriptine inhibits prolactin release. An increasing number of observations, including the one reported in this paper, provide evidence that bromocriptine can also cause significant reduction in the size of prolactin-secreting adenomas. This effect can now be easily demonstrated by CT scanning. Bromocriptine can be used, not only after surgery has failed, but also in order to facilitate the surgical procedure, thereby increasing the surgical success rate. Some authors suggest that prolactin-secreting adenomas be treated with bromocriptine only. Several questions remain open, for instance, why the response to bromocriptine is unpredictable, and whether prolonged therapy with a dopaminergic drug whose effect is not restrained to hypophyseal cells will have adverse side-effects.