Prolactin-secreting pituitary adenomas: neurosurgical management of 37 patients

Transsphenoidal exploration was performed on 37 patients with hyperprolactinemia and a sellar polytomographic picture consistent with an adenoma. Twenty-two patients were found to have a microadenoma, and 14 were found to have macroadenomas. In one patient who had recently received bromocriptine, no tumor was found. Seventy-two percent of patients with microadenomas had complete resolution of all signs and symptoms; only 35% of the patients with macroadenoma were cured. There was no mortality and minimal morbidity. Seventy-five percent of those patients who desired pregnancy delivered normal children. Transsphenoidal resection is a safe and effective therapeutic modality. The present diagnostic tests and therapeutic management of these patients at our institution is the subject of this report.