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NIDDK
* What Is a Prolactinoma?
* What Is the Pituitary Gland?
* How Common Is Prolactinoma?
* What Causes Prolactinoma?
* What Are the Symptoms?
* What Else Causes Prolactin To Rise?
* How is Prolactinoma Diagnosed?
* How Is Prolactinoma Treated?
* How Does Prolactinoma Effect Pregnancy and Oral Contraceptives?
* Is Osteoporosis a Risk in Women with High Prolactin Levels?
* What Other Resources Are Available?
What Is a Prolactinoma?

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A prolactinoma is a benign tumor of the pituitary gland that produces a hormone called prolactin. It is the most common type of pituitary tumor. Symptoms of prolactinoma are caused by too much prolactin in the blood (hyperprolactinemia) or by pressure of the tumor on surrounding tissues.
Prolactin stimulates the breast to produce milk during pregnancy. After delivery of the baby, a mother’s prolactin levels fall unless she breast feeds her infant. Each time the baby nurses, prolactin levels rise to maintain milk production.
What Is the Pituitary Gland?
The pituitary gland, sometimes called the master gland, plays a critical role in regulating growth and development, metabolism, and reproduction. It produces prolactin and a variety of other key hormones. These include growth hormone, which regulates growth; ACTH (corticotropin), which stimulates the adrenal glands to produce cortisol; thyrotropin, which signals the thyroid gland to produce thyroid hormone; and luteinizing hormone and follicle-stimulating hormone, which regulate ovulation and estrogen and progesterone production in women, and sperm formation and testosterone production in men.
The pituitary gland sits in the middle of the head in a bony box called the sella turcica. The eye nerves sit directly above the pituitary gland. Enlargement of the gland can cause local symptoms such as headaches or visual disturbances. Pituitary tumors may also impair production of one or more pituitary hormones, causing reduced pituitary function (hypopituitarism).
How Common Is Prolactinoma?
Autopsy studies indicate that 25 percent of the U.S. population have small pituitary tumors. Forty percent of these pituitary tumors produce prolactin, but most are not considered clinically significant. Clinically significant pituitary tumors affect the health of approximately 14 out of 100,000 people.
What Causes Prolactinoma?
Although research continues to unravel the mysteries of disordered cell growth, the cause of pituitary tumors remains unknown. Most pituitary tumors are sporadic–they are not genetically passed from parents to offspring.
What Are the Symptoms?
In women, high blood levels of prolactin often cause infertility and changes in menstruation. In some women, periods may disappear altogether. In others, periods may become irregular or menstrual flow may change. Women who are not pregnant or nursing may begin producing breast milk. Some women may experience a loss of libido (interest in sex). Intercourse may become painful because of vaginal dryness.
In men, the most common symptom of prolactinoma is impotence. Because men have no reliable indicator such as menstruation to signal a problem, many men delay going to the doctor until they have headaches or eye problems caused by the enlarged pituitary pressing against nearby eye nerves. They may not recognize a gradual loss of sexual function or libido. Only after treatment do some men realize they had a problem with sexual function.
What Else Causes Prolactin To Rise?
In some people, high blood levels of prolactin can be traced to causes other than a pituitary tumor.
Prescription Drugs. Prolactin secretion in the pituitary is normally suppressed by the brain chemical, dopamine. Drugs that block the effects of dopamine at the pituitary or deplete dopamine stores in the brain may cause the pituitary to secrete prolactin. These drags include the major tranquilizers trifluoperazine (Stelazine) and haloperidol (Haldol); metoclopramide (Reglan), used to treat gastroesophageal reflux and the nausea caused by certain cancer drugs; and less often, alpha methyldopa and reserpine, used to control hypertension.
Other Pituitary Tumors. Other tumors arising in or near the pituitary–such as those that cause acromegaly or Cushing’s syndrome–may block the flow of dopamine from the brain to the prolactin-secreting cells.
Hypothyroidism. Increased prolactin levels are often seen in people with hypothyroidism, and doctors routinely test people with hyperprolactinemia for hypothyroidism.
Breast Stimulation also can cause a modest increase in the amount of prolactin in the blood.
How is Prolactinoma Diagnosed?
A doctor will test for prolactin blood levels in women with unexplained milk secretion (galactorrhea) or irregular menses or infertility, and in men with impaired sexual function and, in rare cases, milk secretion. If prolactin is high, a doctor will test thyroid function and ask first about other conditions and medications known to raise prolactin secretion. The doctor will also request a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), which is the most sensitive test for detecting pituitary tumors and determining their size. MRI scans may be repeated periodically to assess tumor progression and the effects of therapy. Computer Tomography (CT scan) also gives an image of the pituitary, but it is less sensitive than the MRI.