Diagnosis and treatment of primary aldosteronism.

Overview

Disorders of the adrenal cortex and medulla are often associated with hypertension, which can be cured surgically in many cases or may require specific and timely medical treatments. Therefore, knowledge of adrenal physiology, biochemistry, and molecular biology is essential such that an appropriate diagnostic evaluation can be conducted efficiently. The most common hypertensive disorder of the adrenal cortex is primary aldosteronism. Aldosterone-producing adenoma is the most common form of primary aldosteronism and is most likely to be cured by unilateral adrenalectomy when aldosterone production is highly autonomous from renin-angiotensin, lateralizes to one adrenal gland, and is associated with overproduction of 18-hydroxycortiocosterone and C18-methyloxygenated metabolites of cortisol. Variants of adrenal hyperplasia that share these characteristics can also be cured by unilateral adrenalectomy.