Abstract
Daily plasma analysis of complete menstrual cycles from infertile women (n = 32) revealed transient hyperprolactinaemia in a significant number in comparison with normally cycling women. The prolactin elevations occurred for variable durations at different stages of the cycle. Transient hyperprolactinaemia occurring at mid-cycle was associated with reduced late luteal phase steroid levels and short luteal phases. When the prolactin elevations occurred at other times they were unrelated to ovarian steroid levels.
Treatment of patients with short luteal phases with bromocriptine (2.5 mg/day) normalised prolactin levels but also reduced gonadotrophins. The net result of these changes was a normalisation of the length of the luteal phase which was now deficient in steroid secretion. To alleviate these problems the treatments proposed for the short luteal phase are either bromocriptine (2.5 mg/day) for 7 days over the mid-cycle period only or bromocriptine for 7 days at mid-cycle in conjunction with a follicular stimulant in the early follicular phase.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.