Lactation failure
| Lactation failure | |
|---|---|
| Classification and external resources | |
| Specialty | obstetrics |
| ICD-10 | O92.3 |
| ICD-9-CM | 676.4 |
Lactation failure or deficiency, also known as agalactia or agalactorrhea, as well as hypogalactia or hypogalactorrhea, is a medical condition in which lactation is insufficient or fails completely due to an inadequacy of breast milk production and/or a failure of the milk let-down reflex in response to suckling following childbirth, resulting in an inability to properly breastfeed.
The most important cause of lactation failure is an insufficient secretion of prolactin from the pituitary gland.D2 receptor antagonists, which are used to treat lactation failure, correct this insufficiency by blocking D2 receptors in the anterior pituitary, which in turn disinhibits prolactin release.Differential diagnosis of lactation failure when prolactin levels are normal or high includes lymphocytic hypophysitis (inflammation of the pituitary gland due to autoimmunity), Sheehan's syndrome (postpartum hypopituitarism due to ischemic necrosis from blood loss and hypovolemia during and after childbirth), and adult growth hormone deficiency, all of which may cause lactation failure in part or full by lack of sufficient GH secretion. Hypopituitarism in general can impair secretion of pituitary hormones such as prolactin and growth hormone (GH) and in turn result in lactation failure.
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