Diagnosis and treatment of aldosterone-producing adenoma in a young patient: a clinical case

Abstract

The prevalence of primary hyperaldosteronism (PHA) among individuals with essential arterial hypertension is about 5 to 10%. We present a clinical case of a 32 year old male patient, who despite the full clinical picture of PHA, was managed in primary care setting with the diagnosis of myalgia and treatment-resistant arterial hypertension. The article discusses clinical and laboratory parameters of the patient with the diagnosis of unilateral aldosteroma and the efficacy of its treatment. The generally accepted algorithm of PHA diagnosis with unilateral aldosterone-producing adenoma in young patients does not involve comparative selective blood sampling from adrenal veins. This accelerates the differential diagnosis and facilitates the decision to undertake surgery. This simplified diagnostic algorithm was successfully applied in the patient. Reasonable surgical intervention has led to the recovery of the patient. Awareness of various medical specialties of the up-to-date information on PHA and wide implementation of its screening into clinical practice, first of all, assessment of aldosterone-renin ratio, would allow for detection of the disease as early as possible and prevention of the development of life-threatening cardiovascular complications.