[A case of multiple sclerosis with galactorrhea-amenorrhea syndrome]

Patients with multiple sclerosis sometimes show subthalamic lesions presenting syndrome of inappropriate secretion of ADH (SIADH), hypothermia, hyperprolactinemia, weight loss, and cachexia. Hyperprolactinemia also has been found in the patients with active systemic lupus erythematosus, because prolactin can be produced from human activated lymphocytes. We described a case of multiple sclerosis showing galactorrhea-amenorrhea syndrome with hyperprolactinemia. A 31-year-old woman showed a high level of prolactin in the serum (79.6 ng/ml) during remission stage 5 months after the onset of multiple sclerosis. She showed galactorrhea-amenorrhea syndrome 3 years later. She showed dysesthesia in her limbs, relapsing monoparesis, visual disturbance and Gd-enhanced plaques in Brain MRI for 6 years. She was admitted to our hospital on November 24, 1995. A neurological examination showed hyporeflexia of the upper extremities, hyperreflexia of the lower extremities, bilateral ankle clonus, truncal ataxia, and neurogenic bladder. Laboratory tests revealed increased level of serum prolactin, exaggerated secretion of serum prolactin after intravenous injection of 500 micrograms TRH, and marked suppression after oral administration of 2.5 mg bromocriptine. Brain MRI showed demyelinating lesions near the lateral ventricle, and cervical MRI (T2 image) showed high signal intensity lesions in the spinal cord from C2 to C5. In the previous case, galactorrhea-amenorrhea syndrome was found during the exacerbation stage of multiple sclerosis. Hyperprolactinemia may be caused from subthalamic lesions or by activated lymphocytes in multiple sclerosis. We considered that hyperprolactinemia and galactorrhea-amenorrhea syndrome in our patient might be caused from subthalamic lesions because lymphocytes were not activated during the remission stage of multiple sclerosis.