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Pituitary Function in Pseudocyesis¹

Department of Reproductive Medicine, School of Medicine University of California, San Diego, Lajolla, California 92093

Correspondence to: S. S. C. Yen.

Neuroendocrine assessments were made in a 16-year-old girl with pseudocyesis of 38 weeks duration. Basal levels of pituitary LH and PRL, but not of FSH, were markedly elevated and the pulsatile pattern of LH and PRL appears to be exaggerated compared with those found in normal cycling women. Growth hormone levels were normal, with an appropriate increase after arginine infusion and L-dopa. The increased luteotropic action resulting from increased plasma LH and the lactogenic action of increased plasma PRL were associated with the presence of luteal function and galactorrhea. The dominant role of psychic mechanism(s) in causing hypersecretions of LH and PRL is suggested by the almost immediate fall in the serum concentrations and the rapid resolution of abdominal distention after the diagnosis was revealed to the patient.

Supported by Rockefeller Foundation Grant RF 75029. A portion of the patient studies was perfonned in the Clinical Research Center supported by NIH Research Grant RR00827.

¹ Present Address: Reproduction Research Branch, National Institutes of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland.

² Previously a Resident in Obstetrics and Gynecology. Present Address: 13525 Midland Road, Poway, California 92064.

Received August 25, 1975.

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