Choosing Wisely Recommendations
Don’t perform prolactin testing as part of the routine infertility evaluation in women with regular menses.
Rationale and Comments
It has become common practice to obtain prolactin levels in the routine infertility evaluation. However, there is no reason to expect that a woman would exhibit clinically significant, elevated prolactin levels in the presence of normal menstrual cycles and without galactorrhea (milk discharge from breast). Therefore, serum testing of prolactin levels in a normally menstruating woman without galactorrhea provides no benefit and would not impact clinical management.
Sponsoring Organizations
- American Society for Reproductive Medicine
Sources
Disciplines
References
- Glazener CM, Kelly NJ, Hull MG. Prolactin measurement in the investigation of infertility in women with a normal menstrual cycle. Br J Obstet Gynaecol. 1987 Jun;94(6):535–8.
- Kostrzak A, Warenik-Szymankiewicz A, Meczekalski B. The role of serum PRL bioactivity evaluation in hyperprolactinaemic women with different menstrual disorders. Gynecol Endocrinol. 2009 Dec;25(12):799–806.
