Surprisingly low aldosterone levels in peripheral veins following intravenous sedation during adrenal vein sampling: implications for the concept of nonsuppressibility in primary aldosteronism

Background: Constituitively high and nonsuppressible aldosterone levels are considered to be the hallmark of primary aldosteronism. We observed a high proportion of primary aldosteronism patients with surprisingly low aldosterone levels in peripheral veins during adrenal vein sampling (AVS) and sought to further characterize the phenomenon. Methods: Database analysis of patients with primary aldosteronism at the University of Calgary who underwent AVS under intravenous sedation. Aldosterone levels following sedation were compared with aldosterone measured at diagnosis in the free-living state. A validation analysis was performed on a similar database from the University of British Columbia. Results: Seventy-two percent of 127 patients had AVS aldosterone levels more than 30% lower than their outpatient aldosterone measure (468 vs. 278 pmol/l, P 
Source: Journal of Hypertension - Category: Cardiology Tags: ORIGINAL PAPERS: Secondary hypertension Source Type: research