Evaluation of primary aldosteronism.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this review is to briefly summarize current knowledge on diagnosis and treatment of primary aldosteronism, the most frequent cause of endocrine hypertension.


RESULTS
The prevalence of primary aldosteronism increases with the severity of hypertension, from 2% in patients with grade 1 hypertension to 20% among resistant hypertensives. The detection of primary aldosteronism is of particular importance, not only because it provides an opportunity for a targeted treatment but also because it has been extensively demonstrated that patients affected by primary aldosteronism are more prone to cardiovascular events and target organ damage than patients with essential hypertension. The diagnosis of primary aldosteronism is a three-step process; screening, confirmation and subtype diagnosis.


CONCLUSIONS
We review, the strategies to correctly identify primary aldosteronism, highlighting the central role of the new guidelines and the diagnostic aspects still under debate.
Mulatero
Paolo
P
Division of Internal Medicine and Hypertension, Department of Medicine and Experimental Oncology, University of Torino, Torino, Italy. paolo.mulatero@libero.it
Monticone
Silvia
S
Bertello
Chiara
C
Tizzani
Davide
D
Iannaccone
Andrea
A
Crudo
Valentina
V
Veglio
Franco
F
D000315:Adrenalectomy; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D006929:Hyperaldosteronism / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy*; D006973:Hypertension / Q000209:etiology; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods; D000451:Mineralocorticoid Receptor Antagonists; D012307:Risk Factors
D000451:Mineralocorticoid Receptor Antagonists