Adrenal vein sampling in differential diagnosis of primary aldosteronism on the example of a clinical case

Primary aldosteronism is the most common cause of endocrine hypertension, occurring in 5-10% of patients with hypertension. Convincing evidence has been obtained indicating that primary aldosteronism increases the risk of cardiovascular complications, respectively, early diagnosis and treatment of patients with the definition of further tactics is a key step to prevent the progression of cardiovascular complications. The choice of the most appropriate treatment method for patients with primary aldosteronism depends on the diagnosis of nosological subtypes - bilateral adrenal hyperplasia (also known as idiopathic aldosteronism), which recommends a conservative treatment or unilateral aldosteronism due to aldosterone-producing adenoma, in which surgical treatment (adrenalectomy) is the tactic of choice. In addition, the "obvious" adrenal adenomas may in fact turn out to be areas of focal hyperplasia - a diagnostic error in this case leads to the unreasonable implementation of adrenalectomy. In order to clarify the lateralization of aldosterone hyperproduction, adrenal venous sampling is used. However, this method requires constant radiography, qualified endovascular surgery and is carried out in centralized medical hospitals. In this clinical case, we want to demonstrate the importance of a diagnosis of primary aldosteronism step by step.

primary aldosteronism, hypokalemia, aldosterone-renin ratio, adrenal venous sampling, aldosterone-producing adenoma, mineralocorticoid antagonist, clinical case