[The diagnosis and therapy of hyperprolactinemia]

Hyperprolactinaemia is the most common result of pituitary dysfunction and is characterized by alteration on the reproductive function. After a review of the hypothalamic control mechanisms and of the local paracrine and autocrine factors regulating prolactin secretion, the most common physiological, pharmacological and pathological causes of hyperprolactinaemia are described. The clinical pictures of hyperprolactinaemia in man and woman are then summarized. The diagnostic protocol used in this Institute is then described: confirmation of the existence and entity of hyperprolactinaemia by means of a prolactin profile; exclusion of pharmacological or extra pituitary causes (cirrhosis, primitive hypothyroidism, chronic renal failure, etc.); neuro-radiological evaluation of the sella region, by means of standard X-ray, computer tomography scan, nuclear magnetic resonance. The drugs commonly used in medical treatment of hyperprolactinaemia such as a bromocriptine, other-derived compounds and then recent CV 205-502, and the surgical approaches (trans-sphenoidal and transcranial routes) are reported. The indication of medical or surgical treatment and the relevance of radiotherapy are finally considered.