As I promised a few weeks ago, here is the reply I got from the doctor who
wrote an article about diagnosing CNS tumors in primary care. I have the
feeling that I may not have made myself clear in my letter to her. What I
wanted to know was whether the women who presented with pituitary tumors
reported a past history of breastfeeding problems including persistent
mastitis or galactoceles. She had mentioned these things specifically in her
list of history questions. Anyway, here is her reply.

Since I am having to go NOMAIL (I'm diving into my last year of grad school
for MSN and NP certification) I would be very grateful if you could send
copies of your comments to my email.

Thank you to everyone!

Bonny

-----Original Message-----
From:   Dr Gayle Whitman-Elia [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent:   Tuesday, August 22, 2000 4:42 PM
To:     [log in to unmask]
Subject:        galactorrhea article

Thank you so much for your interest. None of the women presented in the
article has breast fed since the diagnosis so we do not have prospective
direct information on the lactation experience in these subjects. I know of
no articles that specifically address this issue. It is an interesting
question. My guess is that women with persistent mastitis would have
persistently elevated prolactin levels just from the constant breast
irritation. Because prolactin is a pulsatile hormone it would be difficult
to quantify the impact unless you could do several levels before and after
the development of the mastitis.
Gail F. Whitman-Elia

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