Doctors at Queen Mary University of London, St. Bartholomew’s Hospital and Cambridge University Hospital have used a new type of CT scan to shine a light on small nodules of hormone glands and remove them to treat high blood pressure.
Most patients with hypertension are said to be in need of lifelong drug treatment because the cause is unknown. According to studies so far, it can be seen that 5-10% of hypertensive patients have excessive production of the steroid hormone aldosterone due to adrenal gene mutation. As such, primary aldosteronism, one of the causes of high blood pressure, can be cured or significantly improved by adrenal surgery, but because the standard preoperative examination is invasive, such as catheter examination, less than 1% of patients with adrenal disease have a chance to be cured.
There are two non-invasive tests for this condition: an etomidate positron CT scan and adrenal vein sampling. The research team conducted a study comparing the accuracy of these two examination methods, focusing on the etomidate positron CT scan.
As a result of conducting tests on 128 patients who were found to be primary aldosteronism as the cause of hypertension, two-thirds of the patients with increased aldosterone secretion found that the cause of the increase was from a benign nodule in one adrenal gland. After identifying this, it was said that the nodule might be safely removed by performing an etomidate positron CT scan using etomidate, which is attached only to the aldosterone-producing nodule.
The scan is said to be fast, painless, and technically successful for all patients, with equivalent precision to conventional catheterization. The research team said that aldosterone-producing nodules are so small that they are easily overlooked in normal CT scans. After injecting etomidate, the cause can be determined by shining for a few minutes, and most of them can be treated followingwards. Related information this placecan be found in
