Clinical and hormonal response to short-term intermittent versus continuous oral bromocriptine in hyperprolactinemic...

OBJECTIVE -- To determine if intermittent oral bromocriptine administration could be a useful therapeutic alternative in infertile hyperprolactinemic women. DESIGN -- Open, randomized and prospective study. SETTING -- Outpatient infertility clinic of a third-level medical institution. PATIENTS -- Fourteen low-income women, 23 to 36 years of age with anovulatory infertility (1-13 years in duration) secondary to hyperprolactinemia (>35 ng/mL). Endocrine profile ruled out anovulation of other origin. INTERVENTIONS -- After a control period of 30 days, seven women (group 1) received daily oral bromocriptine (2.5-10.0 mg/day) continuously during two consecutive 30-day periods (T-1 and T-2), and seven women (group 2) received oral bromocriptine only from day 1 to 15 of each 30-day period of treatment. Morning blood samples were drawn similarly during the three periods on days 6 to 8, 13 to 15, and 21 to 23. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES -- FSH, LH, and prolactin were determined in all samples, estradiol only in samples of days 6 to 8 and 13 to 15, and progesterone exclusively between days 21 and 23.

Mean serum prolactin levels during the control period were similarly elevated in groups 1 and 2. A marked decrease occurred during period T-1 (P < .004) and further during period T-2 (P < .05) in both groups, but at no time were significant intergroup differences documented. During the control period all women had a serum progesterone < 3.0 ng/mL (<9.54 nmol/L); during period T-2 it was > or = 3.0 ng/mL in three and five women of groups 1 and 2, respectively. Over the following 10 months of treatment, two and three normal pregnancies and deliveries ensued in groups 1 and 2, respectively. CONCLUSION -- The intermittent use of oral bromocriptine may indeed be a useful therapeutic approach in treating infertile hyperprolactinemic women.