Prolactinoma

Prolactinoma

Prolactinoma is a noncancerous pituary gland tumor. This particular tumor tends to make the pituitary gland overproduce the hormone prolaction. Which is a sex hormone regular hence, estrogen for women and testosterone for men. This tumor is not usually life threatening and can be treated with medications or if they are having issues with visual impairent or infertility they can opt for surgery to have the tumor removed.

SYMPTOMS

Symptoms for Prolactinoma vary from person to person and definitely from male to female. In males the symptoms can range from: headaches, infertility, visual impairment, loss of sexual drive, high levels of sex hormones, erectile dysfunction, and uncommonly enlarged breasts. In females the symptoms can be: irregular menstral periods, milky white discharge from breasts when the female isn't pregnant, painful dry sexual intercourse, and low bone density.

There are other diseases besides Prolactinonma that can cause an overproduction of prolactin, such as : hypothyrodism, different medications (high blood pressure medicine,tranquilzers, and antinausea), other pituitary tumors, and pregnancy.
Prolactinomas are not common in children. Prolactinomas are occur more in women and men. Women are usually diagnosed at a younger age then men are.

MRI is used with and without contrast to help see the tumor in differnet planes. The contrast helps to isolate the tumor and will usually appear white in the images when contrast is administered.

Complications of Prolactinoma

Some complications of this disease can include: Vision loss is the tumor is not found it can press against the optic nerve. Osteoporosis , prolcation helps control estrogen which helps to regulate your bone density, and Pregnancy if a women is pregnant her pituitary usually produces more prolaction but, when a women has a prolactionma she can experience headaches, nausea vomiting and extreme fatigue because of the excess prolactin.