Abstract
Pituitary adenoma is the most common cause of hyperprolactinemia, which is a rare endocrine disorder encountered in pediatric patient care. Epidemiological and clinical information about hyperprolactinemia in childhood and adolescence is limited. Clinical signs of hyperprolactinemia are very heterogeneous. In girls, disturbances in menstrual function and galactorrhea may be seen, whereas in boys, headache, visual disturbances, delayed pubertal development and hypogonadism are often present. Owing to the ease of ordering a serum prolactin measurement, an evidence-based, cost-effective approach to the management of this endocrine disorder is required. Before a diagnosis of hyperprolactinemia is made, drug use, renal insufficiency, hypothyroidism, and parasellar tumors should be excluded. The main objectives of treatment are normalization of prolactin level, adenoma shrinkage, and recovery from clinical signs related to hyperprolactinemia. In patients with microadenoma, invasive or non-invasive macroadenoma, and even in patients with visual field defects, dopamine agonists are the first-line treatment. Surgical treatment is indicated in patients who are unresponsive or intolerant to medical treatment or who have persistent neurological signs. Radiotherapy should be considered as a supportive treatment for patients in whom surgery fails or medical response is not achieved.
©2013 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin Boston
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- Letters to the Editor
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Articles in the same Issue
- Masthead
- Masthead
- Review Article
- Clinical and diagnostic characteristics of hyperprolactinemia in childhood and adolescence
- Images in Pediatric Endocrinology
- Early occurrence of cerebral white matter abnormality detected in a neonate with salt-wasting congenital adrenal hyperplasia
- Original Articles
- Pentoxifylline treatment for protecting diabetic retinopaty in children with type 1 diabetes
- Absence of diabetes mellitus type 2 in obese children and adolescents in the north of Spain
- Ceramide mediates inhibition of the Akt/eNOS pathway by high levels of glucose in human vascular endothelial cells
- Short- and middle-term continuous use of cinacalcet in children on peritoneal dialysis
- Congenital hypothyroidism caused by a novel mutation of the dual oxidase 2 (DUOX2) gene
- Arginine-guanidinoacetate-creatine pathway in preterm newborns: creatine biosynthesis in newborns
- The effect of different nutritional states on puberty onset and the expression of hypothalamic Kiss1/kisspepetin
- Celiac disease and dermatitis herpetiformis in Brazilian twins: a long-term follow-up and screening of their relatives
- Glucocorticoid receptor expression in whole blood with preterm infants
- Trends in hospitalizations among children with type 1 diabetes in Spain, 2001–2009
- Effects of a combined intervention for treating severely obese prepubertal children
- Vitamin D levels, insulin resistance, and cardiovascular risks in very young obese children
- Prevalence of metabolic syndrome in children and adolescents — the recent trends in South Korea
- Elevated visfatin levels in obese children are related to proinflammatory factors
- Patient reports
- A clinically euthyroid child with a large goiter due to a thyroglobulin gene defect: clinical features and genetic studies
- Immune thrombocytopenic purpura in a child with thyroid hormone resistance – a rare presentation
- Attempted suicide with levothyroxine in an adolescent girl
- Differentiated thyroid carcinoma in a girl with resistance to thyroid hormone management with triiodothyroacetic acid
- Brothers with germline PTEN mutations and persistent hypoglycemia, macrocephaly, developmental delay, short stature, and coagulopathy
- DEND syndrome due to V59A mutation in KCNJ11 gene: unresponsive to sulfonylureas
- Severe short stature due to 3-M syndrome with a novel OBSL1 gene mutation
- Mild form of 3-methylglutaconic aciduria type IV and mutation in the TMEM70 genes
- Conn syndrome and Crohn disease in a pediatric case: an interesting parallel
- Adolescent ischemic stroke associated with anabolic steroid and cannabis abuse
- Anorexia nervosa in a patient with congenital adrenal hyperplasia
- Severe hypothalamopituitary dysfunction accompanied by influenza-associated encephalopathy: report of two pediatric cases
- Octreotide-induced hepatitis in a child with persistent hyperinsulinemia hypoglycemia of infancy
- Hepatitis in an infant treated with octreotide for congenital hyperinsulinism
- Letters to the Editor
- Delayed cord clamping in full-term neonates: is it time for outlining exclusion criteria?
- And what about cord blood cardiac troponin I (cTnI) levels as an inclusion criterion for therapeutic hypothermia after perinatal asphyxia?
- Duplication of SOX9 is not a common cause of 46,XX testicular or 46,XX ovotesticular DSD
- Association of the interferon-γ (IFN-γ) gene polymorphism with endometriosis: is epidermal growth factor (EGF) the key-mediator?