Effect of sulpiride on plasma prolactin levels in women with puerperal or pathological hyperprolactinaemia

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Abstract
The effect of 100 mg i.m. sulpiride on plasma Prl [prolactin] levels was studied in 10 normal females, 21 patients with galactorrhea and normal plasma Prl, 10 women with puerperal hyperprolactinemia and 27 patients with amenorrhea-galactorrhea and high plasma Prl levels. The response to sulpiride in patients with galactorrhea but normal Prl was slightly higher (P < 0.05) than that observed in normal women but only if expressed in percent. Women with puerperal hyperprolactinemia respond to the drug with a marked increase in Prl (mean .+-. SEM [standard error of the mean]: 563.0 .+-. 142.8%), even though their baseline values are already very high (mean .+-. SEM: 133.6 .+-. 23.8 ng/ml). There is a lower or no response to sulpiride in 13 women with pituitary tumor. The same was true in 11 patients with hyperprolactinemia of uncertain etiology but 10 of these subjects presented signs suggestive of a tumor. In the last 3 patients with pathological hyperprolactinemia in whom a consistent Prl increase after sulpiride was observed, hyperprolactinemia was probably not of tumorous origin. The sulpiride test appears promising for discriminating between organic and functional cases of enhanced Prl secretion.