PROLACTINOMA

Prolactinoma is a condition where there is a tumor on the pituitiary gland and it causes the overproduction of prolactin into the body, which is known is hyperprolactinemia. This can do several things to the body and I will go over that today.

SYMPTOMS

Just like an adenoma, the prolactinoma has two classifications, a microprolactinoma and a macroprolactinoma. The size of the prolactinoma will determine what kind of symptoms that an individual will have. I was able to find some information about how a prolactinoma affects men and women differently. With a prolactinoma that is very large in size, this will of course effect your vision because the optic nerves criss cross right above the pituitary gland and so if you have a tumor that is large enough in size, this will push up on those optic nerves causing inflammation which there fore will affect your vision.

For prolactinoma' s that are not large in size some other symptoms for women that may occur but are not limited to amenorrhea (cease in menstruation) and galactorrhea (milk production) when the female is not pregnant.

Some symptoms that may occur for men would be gynecomastia, which is unexplained beast enlargement, shrinkage of the testes, a sex drive that has diminished or is non-existent, and the possibility of being infertile if the prolactinoma is left untreated.

TREATMENT

Treatment for a prolactinoma is usually not surgical. Most of the time an individual will be given medication to reduce the production of prolactin and this will most often then not shrink the tumor which will decrease the symptoms that occur with prolactinoma. Usually the only time that an individual will receive surgery is if the pain or vision affects the patient to where it is unbearable or if the patient cannot handle the medications that can be given to decrease the release of prolactin.