title: Non-surgical management of cystic prolactinomas.
abstract: Cystic prolactinomas are considered not amenable to dopamine agonist therapy. We present the results of dopamine agonist therapy in six patients with cystic prolactinomas. The inclusion criteria of patients were: (i) cystic macroadenomas with the cyst occupying more than 50% of the tumour volume; (ii) a serum prolactin value more than 150 ng/mL. All patients were males with a mean age of 35 years. The clinical presentations were erectile dysfunction in 66.6%, visual deficits in 50% and headache in 50% of patients. All patients were treated with bromocriptine only except one who was treated with both bromocriptine and cabergoline. The mean duration of follow up was 57.1 months. At the final follow-up 50% of patients had hormonal cure, 50% had radiological cure and 50% had reduction in the size of the tumour. Hence, it is appropriate to consider dopamine agonist therapy in patients with cystic prolactinomas before considering surgery.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram 695 011, Kerala, India.
authors.forename: Biji
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bahuleyan
authors.forename: Girish
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Menon
authors.forename: Suresh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nair
authors.forename: B R M
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: Rao
authors.forename: H V
authors.initials: HV
authors.lastname: Easwer
authors.forename: Kumar
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Krishna
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001971:Bromocriptine / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000077465:Cabergoline; D018491:Dopamine Agonists / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004873:Ergolines / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005682:Gadolinium; D006728:Hormones / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D010911:Pituitary Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D015175:Prolactinoma / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D018491:Dopamine Agonists; D004873:Ergolines; D006728:Hormones; D001971:Bromocriptine; D005682:Gadolinium; D000077465:Cabergoline