Abstract: Prolactinomas are the most common functional pituitary adenomas. Most patients with prolactinomas can achieve satisfactory results through conventional treatment such as dopamine agonist administration, surgery, and radiotherapy, but some prolactinomas are characterized by drug resistance. These tumors show resistance to treatment with dopamine agonists and frequently, invasive growth, making total surgical resection of the tumor difficult; these characteristics are coupled with a high postoperative recurrence rate and poor response to radiotherapy. Such refractory prolactinomas pose a great challenge to neurosurgeons. Refractory prolactinomas represent an urgent problem necessitating further exploration for effective treatment options. In this paper, we briefly review the advances in novel exploratory drug treatment for refractory prolactinomas in addition to conventional treatment, to highlight some new therapeutic approaches that can be used in clinical practice.