>You may be interested to know that our consultant endocrinologist
>has started asking me to perform serial prolactin levels on patients
>who have had an unexplained high prolactin. (There has been no
>suspicion of epilepsy in these patients).
>I insert a venous cannula and take samples at 0, 30, 60, 90 and
>120 min.
>
>Results so far (from memory) : each patient has had normal prolactin
>by 60 min.
Our endocrinologists also arrange a cannulated prolactin series in
patients with a borderline raised prolactin (approx <1000). The
majority decline to normal over the hour and prove a valuable method of
reducing a lot of further investigations including imaging, reducing
cost and anxiety for everyone. It also helps to take a drug history !
Trevor
--
Trevor Gray
Dept. of Clinical Chemistry,
Northern General Hospital,
Sheffield S5 7AU
0114 271 4309
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