Causes of Hyperprolactinemia
Cause | Example |
|---|---|
Physiologic | Early infancy (up to 3 months) Food ingestion Nipple stimulation in women Pregnancy Postpartum period Sexual intercourse in some women Sleep Stress |
Hypothalamic disorders | Head trauma Hypothalamic tumors Idiopathic galactorrhea (presumed abnormality in dopamine secretion) Nontumerous hypothalamic infiltration: Sarcoidosis, tuberculosis, Langerhans cell histiocytosis Postencephalitis |
Pituitary disorders | Prolactin-secreting pituitary tumors Surgical pituitary stalk section and other stalk lesions Tumors causing pituitary stalk compression |
Other endocrine disorders | Primary hypothyroidism |
Disorders of other systems | Ectopic production of prolactin: Bronchogenic carcinoma (not squamous cell; mostly small cell undifferentiated) Hypernephroma Liver disease |
Chest wall lesions | Surgical scars Trauma Tumors |
Pharmacologic | H2-antagonists Oral contraceptives and estrogens Opioids Thyrotropin-releasing hormone |
Data from Rebar RW: Practical evaluation of hormonal status. In Reproductive Endocrinology: Physiology, Pathophysiology and Clinical Management, edited by SSC Yen and RB Jaffe. Philadelphia, WB Saunders Company, 1978, p. 493. | |