Is adrenal venous sampling mandatory before surgical decision in case of primary hyperaldosteronism?
BACKGROUND
Primary hyperaldosteronism (PHA) is a cause of secondary arterial hypertension potentially curable by laparoscopic unilateral adrenalectomy. We describe the follow-up of these patients according to their medical or surgical treatment.


METHODS
We report a retrospective single-center study of 91 patients with PHA from 1998 to 2012. Treatment was guided by computed tomography (CT) scans. Preoperative adrenal vein sampling (AVS) was performed when the CT scan did not show single solitary unilateral nodules on the adrenal glands. During the follow-up, we considered hypertension to be cured in patients with normal blood pressure without antihypertensive medication (AM), and improvement was defined by a decrease in AM.


RESULTS
A total of 28 patients received only AM. Of the 62 patients who underwent a unilateral adrenalectomy, 46 (74 %) had an adrenal adenoma, 14 (22 %) a hyperplasia, and the adrenal gland was normal in two cases. Hypertension was cured in 24 cases (38 %), and 28 patients (45 %) showed improvement with a reduction in AM. Predictive factors for a cure were gender, age, number of preoperative AMs, preoperative arterial systolic blood pressure, and plasma renin activity. All patients who presented with hypokalemia were cured postoperatively. We performed 38 AVS and nine of these patients were operated on based on the AVS findings, with an improvement of 100 % of arterial blood pressure after surgery.


CONCLUSIONS
Laparoscopic unilateral adrenalectomy for PHA cured or improved hypertension in 84 % of patients. Preoperative AVS is mandatory for surgical decision making if the CT scan shows bilateral or no lesions associated with PHA.
Department of Thoracic, Vascular and Endocrine Surgery, University Hospital Grenoble, Grenoble, France, pb_augustin@yahoo.com.
Augustin
A
Pirvu
Nora
N
Naem
Jean Philippe
JP
Baguet
Frédéric
F
Thony
Olivier
O
Chabre
Philippe
P
Chaffanjon
D000236:Adenoma / Q000097:blood / Q000601:surgery*; D000310:Adrenal Gland Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000601:surgery*; D000311:Adrenal Glands / Q000473:pathology*; D000315:Adrenalectomy / Q000009:adverse effects; D000328:Adult; D000450:Aldosterone / Q000097:blood; D001794:Blood Pressure; D003657:Decision Making; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000097:blood; D006929:Hyperaldosteronism / Q000097:blood* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery*; D006965:Hyperplasia / Q000097:blood / Q000601:surgery; D006973:Hypertension / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology* / Q000601:surgery*; D007008:Hypokalemia / Q000209:etiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D014682:Vena Cava, Inferior
D000450:Aldosterone; D006854:Hydrocortisone