Pregnancy in patients with prolactin-producing pituitary tumors.

Although pregnancy increases the likelihood that prolactin-producing pituitary tumors will grow, become symptomatic, and need therapy, in selected patients this likeihood is small enough that the presence of the tumor, per se, does not constitute a contraindication to pregnancy. A symptom-free pregnancy is suggested by the presence of a small tumor that is enlarging only very slowly if at all. During pregnancy, expansion of the tumor is associated with symptoms and signs that almost always progress in an orderly fashion and provide adequate warning concerning the enlargement of the tumor. Therapy against the tumor during the pregnancy is effective and does not appear to carry an increased complication rate. Pregnancy in patients with prolactin-producing pituitary tumors should be managed carefully but expectantly.