Effect of Bromocriptine on Pituitary Tumors
- Bruno Ambrosi, MD;
- Marina Nissim, MD;
- Maura Arosio, MD;
- Giovanni Faglia, MD
Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text.
Excerpt
To the Editor.— We read with interest the article by Spark and co-workers (1982;247:311) about the effects of bromocriptine on the size of prolactin-secreting, human-growth-hormone-secreting and nonsecretory pituitary tumors and would like to make a comment about some of the issues raised therein.
During the past five years, we administered bromocriptine (2.5 to 15 mg/day) for two to 46 months to 26 patients (12 females and 14 males) with prolactin-secreting pituitary macroadenomas with computed tomographic (CT) scan controls before, during, and after bromocriptine therapy. Eighteen of them had previously undergone pituitary surgery (by transsphenoidal or transfrontal route), telecobaltotherapy, or both, while eight had never been treated before.
In our experience, the normalization of prolactin levels was not always related to the reduction of the tumor mass: in fact, bromocriptine normalized serum prolactin concentration in 19 cases (73%), while a shrinkage of the adenoma was documented at CT scan in only
