Do patients with prolactinomas using dopamine agonist drugs have autonomic dysfunction?
Reviewed by Claire Howard

This prospective study aimed to determine whether there is autonomic dysfunction in patients with prolactinomas using dopamine agonist (DA) drugs by measuring static and dynamic pupillary responses using an automatic pupillometric device.
Included were 25 eyes from 25 patients who were receiving DA for the treatment of prolactinoma and 25 eyes from 25 healthy individuals. Static and dynamic pupillary responses were measured by automatic quantitative pupillometry. The scotopic pupillary diameter was found to be significantly higher in patients receiving DA medication compared with the control group, while pupil contraction time and pupillary dilatation latency were significantly lower. DA drug use changes static and dynamic pupillary responses, probably by increasing sympathetic tone. In conclusion, authors report that both the static and dynamic parameters in prolactinoma patients who received DAs changed compared with healthy individuals. However, more studies are needed to understand whether these changes are due to the DA used or to the pathophysiology of the disease. The authors conclude that pupillometry can be used as a non-invasive method to provide information about changes in the autonomic nervous system in patients receiving DA drug therapy.

Quantitative evaluation of pupil responses in patients with prolactinomas being treated with dopamine agonists.
Ava S, Hazar L, Karahan M, et al.
NEURO-OPHTHALMOLOGY
2022;46(3):154-8.