title: Macroprolactinemia in a young man and review of the literature.
abstract: A 21-year old man, complaining of headaches and fatigue, with a negative past medical history and a normal clinical examination, underwent a hormonal investigation which revealed hyper-prolactinemia and intact pituitary-gonadal axis. Drug-induced hyperprolactinemia was excluded. Pituitary magnetic resonance imaging indicated a microadenoma in the right part of the gland, with a diameter of 1.5mm. No medical treatment was given as the patient had no symptoms relevant to prolactin excess. The PEG precipitation test was carried out and showed 7% recovery, which was diagnostic of the macroprolactinemia. Relatively few cases of macroprolactinemia have been published in the literature, although the condition is regarded as a fairly common cause of hyperprolactinemia. Macroprolactinemic men represent 10% of published cases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, Amalia Fleming General Hospital, Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: Evangeline
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Vassilatou
authors.forename: Panayiotis
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Schinochoritis
authors.forename: Stamatina
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Marioli
authors.forename: Ioanna
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Tzavara