Hyperprolactinemia in an Adolescent Patient Within 36 Hours After Initiation of Risperidone

Objective: Hyperprolactinemia due to the use of antipsychotic medication is well recognized. A case of an adolescent female psychotic patient, who developed significant symptomatic hyperprolactinemia on a low dose of risperidone with in two days of initiation is described. Methods: Patient had been treated with risperidone for a psychotic illness and serum prolactin levels were assayed the day after the initiation of risperidone therapy revealing hyperprolactinemia, associated with clinical symptoms of hyperprolactinemia. Risperidone was withdrawn and the hyperprolactinemia subsided in less than two weeks. During this period an MRI scan with contrast also displayed a bulky pituitary which was suspected and then discounted as an adenoma. Conclusions: Authors recommend baseline and regular monitoring of prolactin levels in adolescents who are prescribed risperidone, especially due to paucity of knowledge of long term ill effects of high serum prolactin (German J Psychiatry 2007; 10: 116-118).