Background: The pituitary hormone prolactin (PRL) may be a potential growth factor for breast cancer. High blood levels of PRL are associated with a poor prognosis in metastatic breast cancer whereas hyperprolactinemia after breast surgery may predict a better prognosis in women with operable breast cancer. The lack of postoperative hyperprolactinemia would represent the consequence of an alteration in the neuroendocrine control of breast cell proliferation. On this basis, a study was planned to establish the relation which exists between changes in PRL perioperative secretion and the psychological maternal behaviour in women with operable breast cancer.
Patients and methods: The study included 20 patients with operable breast cancer. Serum levels of PRL were measured before and 7 days after breast surgery. The maternal behaviour was investigated by the Rorschach test.
Results: Surgery-induced hyperprolactinemia occurred in 7/20 patients. The Rorschach test documented an absence of a maternal profile in 13/20 patients. The proportion of surgery-induced hyperprolactinemia was significantly higher in patients presenting a normal maternal profile than in those who lacked a maternal behaviour.
Conclusion: The results, by showing a higher proportion of postoperative hyperprolactinemia in women with breast cancer who maintained a maternal behaviour, would suggest that the poor prognosis associated with the absence of surgery-induced hyperprolactinemia in patients with operable breast cancer may, at least in part, be the consequence of a suppression of maternal psychological behaviour.