Outcomes of surgical and/or medical treatment in patients with prolactinomas during long-term follow-up: a retrospective single-centre study

Objectives: Prolactinoma is the most common cause of pituitary tumours. Current medical guidelines recommend dopamine agonists (cabergoline or bromocriptine) as the initial therapy for prolactinoma. However, surgical removal can also be considered in selected cases, such as patients with macroadenomas with local complications (bleeding or optic chiasm pressure) or those not responding to medical treatment. Methods: The present retrospective study included patients with prolactinomas (n=43; female, 24; male, 19) who were primarily managed with medical (n=32) or surgical (n=11) treatment. Results: Macroadenoma (n=29.67%) was commonly detected in both genders (female, 54%; male, 84%). Moreover, the mean pre-treatment prolactin levels were similar in both genders (female, 683.3 +/- 1347 ng/mL; male, 685.4 +/- 805 ng/mL; p=0.226). Surgically treated patients had a greater reduction in tumour size (27.7 +/- 17.9 mm pre-treatment vs. 8.72 +/- 14.2 mm post-treatment) than non-surgically treated ones (12.5 +/- 7.5 mm pre-treatment vs. 4.1 +/- 4.2 mm post-treatment; p=0.00). However, the decrease in prolactin levels was similar between the two patient groups (p=0.108). During the follow-up period (10.6 +/- 7.0 years), the average cabergoline dose of the patients was 1.42 +/- 1.47 mcg/week. Conclusions: Although a surgical approach was considered for selected cases of prolactinoma, the average dose used for medical treatment was highly inadequate for the patients in the present study.