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Autonomous Aldosterone Secretion in Patients with Adrenal Incidentaloma. Biomedicines 2022; 10:biomedicines10123075. [PMID: 36551831 PMCID: PMC9775941 DOI: 10.3390/biomedicines10123075] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/16/2022] [Revised: 11/26/2022] [Accepted: 11/29/2022] [Indexed: 12/05/2022] Open
Abstract
In recent years, research has emphasized the significance of mild clinical and biochemical presentations of primary aldosteronism (PA) that do not meet current diagnostic criteria of the syndrome. In this study, we assessed the prevalence of autonomous aldosterone (Ald) secretion (AAS), defined as a positive (>1.2 ng/dL/mIU/L) Ald-to-renin ratio (ADRR) combined with unsuppressed Ald (>4 ng/dL), and its associations with blood pressure (BP), cardiac function, and common carotid artery (CCA) intima-media thickness (IMT) in patients with incidentally discovered adrenal adenomas (AI), who were either normo- or hypertensive but had no other cardiovascular disease. Among 332 AI patients hospitalized between November 2018 and December 2019, 63 study participants were recruited (26 normo- and 37 hypertensive), who underwent hormonal examinations, 24 h ambulatory BP measurement, transthoracic echocardiography, and CCA IMT assessment without altering chronic medications. AAS was found in approximately 25% of subjects (seven normo- and nine hypertensive); urinary aldosterone excretion (UAldE) exceeded 10 ug/day in none of the subjects. The left ventricular mass index correlated positively with UAldE in non-diabetic patients (n = 50), and negatively with renin in those without beta blocker therapy (n = 38). The study shows that a pragmatic approach to hormonal assessment (no chronic therapy modification) may reveal patients with AAS. Screening for this subclinical PA presentation is probably more effective with a permissive ADRR than UAldE in such a setting.
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Kmieć P, Sworczak K. Autonomous Aldosterone Secretion as a Subclinical Form of Primary Aldosteronism: Pathogenesis and Clinical Significance. Exp Clin Endocrinol Diabetes 2021; 130:7-16. [PMID: 34614533 DOI: 10.1055/a-1556-7784] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Abstract
In recent years, a substantial prevalence of primary aldosteronism (PA) has been demonstrated in both normotensive and mildly hypertensive cohorts. Consequently, a classic presentation of the syndrome, i. e. moderate-to-severe and resistant hypertension with concomitant hypokalemia, should be considered a tip-of-the-iceberg phenotype of a wide PA spectrum. Its entire range encompasses the non-classic clinical forms of mild hypertension and prehypertension but also several biochemical presentations, including patients who meet PA screening and confirmation test criteria, as well as those with either of them and those with other parameters indicating mineralocorticoid excess. In the current review, research insights on the pathogenetic background and clinical significance of autonomous aldosterone secretion (AAS) are presented, which is defined as a constellation of either: 1) normotension, normokalemia, a positive PA screening (high aldosterone-to-renin ratio) and/or confirmation test, or 2) hypertension, normokalemia and a positive PA screening but negative confirmation test. For this purpose, a literature search of the PubMed database was conducted. Advances in immunohistochemistry and genetic sequencing of isolated adrenal cells are provided as probable morphologic basis of the wide range of aldosterone secretion autonomy. Also, the role of corticotropin as an aldosterone secretagogue is discussed. To date, clinical studies depict consequences of subclinical PA phenotypes, such as increased mortality and risk of developing hypertension, impaired arterial and kidney function, association with metabolic syndrome and age, as well as osteoporosis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Piotr Kmieć
- Department of Endocrinology and Internal Medicine, Medical University of Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland
| | - Krzysztof Sworczak
- Department of Endocrinology and Internal Medicine, Medical University of Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland
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Voulgaris N, Tyfoxylou E, Vlachou S, Kyriazi E, Gravvanis C, Kapsali C, Markou A, Papanastasiou L, Gryparis A, Kassi E, Chrousos G, Kaltsas G, Piaditis G. Prevalence of Primary Aldosteronism Across the Stages of Hypertension Based on a New Combined Overnight Test. Horm Metab Res 2021; 53:461-469. [PMID: 34282597 DOI: 10.1055/a-1507-5226] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
Primary aldosteronism (PA) is the most common endocrine cause of arterial hypertension. Despite the increasing incidence of hypertension worldwide, the true prevalence of PA in hypertension was only recently recognized. The objective of the work was to estimate the prevalence of PA in patients at different stages of hypertension based on a newly developed screening-diagnostic overnight test. This is a prospective study with hypertensive patients (n=265) at stage I (n=100), II (n=88), and III (n=77) of hypertension. A group of 103 patients with essential hypertension without PA was used as controls. PA diagnosis was based on a combined screening-diagnostic overnight test, the Dexamethasone-Captopril-Valsartan Test (DCVT) that evaluates aldosterone secretion after pharmaceutical blockade of angiotensin-II and adrenocorticotropic hormone. DCVT was performed in all participants independently of the basal aldosterone to renin ratio (ARR). The calculated upper normal limits for post-DCVT aldosterone levels [3 ng/dl (85 pmol/l)] and post-DCVT ARR [0.32 ng/dl/μU/ml (9 pmol/IU)] from controls, were applied together to establish PA diagnosis. Using these criteria PA was confirmed in 80 of 265 (30%) hypertensives. The prevalence of PA was: 21% (21/100) in stage I, 33% (29/88) in stage II, and 39% (30/77) in stage III. Serum K+ levels were negatively correlated and urinary K+ was positively correlated in PA patients with post-DCVT ARR (r=-0.349, p <0.01, and r=0.27, p <0.05 respectively). In conclusion, DCVT revealed that PA is a highly prevalent cause of hypertension. DCVT could be employed as a diagnostic tool in all subjects with arterial hypertension of unknown cause.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nick Voulgaris
- Department of Endocrinology and Diabetes Center, "G. Gennimatas" General Hospital of Athens, Athens, Greece
- Department of Endocrinology, Athens Naval and Veterans Hospital, Athens, Greece
| | - Ernestini Tyfoxylou
- Department of Endocrinology and Diabetes Center, "G. Gennimatas" General Hospital of Athens, Athens, Greece
| | - Sophia Vlachou
- Department of Endocrinology and Diabetes Center, "G. Gennimatas" General Hospital of Athens, Athens, Greece
| | - Evagelia Kyriazi
- Department of Endocrinology and Diabetes Center, "G. Gennimatas" General Hospital of Athens, Athens, Greece
| | - Chris Gravvanis
- Department of Endocrinology and Diabetes Center, "G. Gennimatas" General Hospital of Athens, Athens, Greece
| | - Chara Kapsali
- Department of Endocrinology and Diabetes Center, "G. Gennimatas" General Hospital of Athens, Athens, Greece
| | - Athina Markou
- Department of Endocrinology and Diabetes Center, "G. Gennimatas" General Hospital of Athens, Athens, Greece
| | - Labrini Papanastasiou
- Department of Endocrinology and Diabetes Center, "G. Gennimatas" General Hospital of Athens, Athens, Greece
| | - Alexandros Gryparis
- Unit of Endocrinology, Diabetes Mellitus and Metabolism, Aretaieion Hospital, Medical National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
| | - Eva Kassi
- Department of Biological Chemistry, Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
- Endocrine Unit, 1st Department of Propaedeutic Medicine, Laiko Hospital, Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
| | - George Chrousos
- University Research Institute of Maternal and Child Health and Precision Medicine and UNESCO Chair on Adolescent Health Care, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
| | - Gregory Kaltsas
- Endocrine Unit, 1st Department of Propaedeutic Medicine, Laiko Hospital, Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
| | - George Piaditis
- Department of Endocrinology and Diabetes Center, "G. Gennimatas" General Hospital of Athens, Athens, Greece
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Unravelling the Genetic Basis of Primary Aldosteronism. Nutrients 2021; 13:nu13030875. [PMID: 33800142 PMCID: PMC7999899 DOI: 10.3390/nu13030875] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2021] [Revised: 03/01/2021] [Accepted: 03/04/2021] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Primary aldosteronism (PA), a condition characterized by autonomous aldosterone hypersecretion, constitutes the most common cause of secondary hypertension. Over the last decade, major breakthroughs have been made in the field of genetics underpinning PA. The advent and wide application of Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) technology led to the identification of several somatic and germline mutations associated with sporadic and familial forms of PA. Somatic mutations in ion-channel genes that participate in aldosterone biosynthesis, including KCNJ5, CACNA1D, ATP1A1, and ATP2B3, have been implicated in the development of aldosterone-producing adenomas (APAs). On the other hand, germline variants in CLCN2, KCNJ5, CACNA1H, and CACNA1D genes have been implicated in the pathogenesis of the familial forms of PA, FH-II, FH-III, and F-IV, as well as PA associated with seizures and neurological abnormalities. However, recent studies have shown that the prevalence of PA is higher than previously thought, indicating the need for an improvement of our diagnostic tools. Further research is required to recognize mild forms of PA and to investigate the underlying molecular mechanisms.
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