[Dynamics of hormonal modifications induced by bromocryptin during hyperprolactinemia].

In a group of 16 females and 2 males with hypogonadism and hyperprolactinemia, bromocriptine was found to suppress prolactin (PRL) high levels within one day without further significant lowering during a 3 weeks longitudinal survey. The usually effective dosage was 5 mg per day. On the contrary, sex hormones did not vary initially and increased secondarily only in those patients resuming gonadal activity. The changes were either cyclical or heterogenous when the first cycle was anovulatory. This latter situation could sometimes but not always be attributed to persistent hyperprolactinemia. Menstruation resumed in 11 patients. Persistance of hypogonadism in the remainder could be explained by incomplete PRL reduction in one case and probability of previous hypothalamo-pituitary damage in six. The latter hypothesis was based in part on impaired gonadotropins responses to LH RH which were not modified by the treatment.