A Comparison of Bromocriptine & Cabergoline on Fertility Outcome of Hyperprolactinemic Infertile Women Undergoing Intrauterine Insemination (Report‪)‬

Prolactin is a pituitary-derived hormone that plays a pivotal role in a variety of reproductive functions. An excess of prolactin above a reference laboratory's upper limits, or "biochemical hyperprolactinemia" is the most common endocrine disorder of the hypothalamic-pituitary axis- up to 10 per cent of the population (1,2). The prevalence has been reported to range from 0.4 per cent in an unselected healthy adult population in Japan to 5 per cent among clients at a family planning clinic1. The rate is even higher among patients with specific symptoms that may be attributable to hyperprolactinemia: it is estimated at 9 per cent among women with amenorrhea, 25 per cent among women with galactorrhea and as high as 70 per cent among women with amenorrhea and galactorrhea (1). The objective of hyperprolactinemia treatment is to correct the biochemical consequences of the hormonal excess (3). Several dopamine agonists are currently available for the treatment of hyperprolactinemia, including bromocriptine and cabergoline in the USA and, additionally, quinagolide in the UK and most other European countries (2,4). Pergolide has also been used successfully in the USA to treat hyperprolactinemia (5). A recently launched long acting dopaminergic drug, cabergoline, has been shown to have advantages over bromocriptine in terms of both efficacy and tolerability. and it is therefore an important advance in the treatment of hyperprolactinemia (6).