[Diagnosis and surgical treatment of primary hyperaldosteronism]

Primary hyperaldosteroneism (PHA) is one of the main causes of secondary arterial hypertension (AH). Medical histories of 62 patients with PHA were analyzed. aldosterone-produced adenoma (APA) was diagnosed in 37 (59.7%) patients (all of them were operated), idiopathic hyperaldosteroneism (IHA)--in 25 (40.3%) patients, 11 of them were operated. Complex clinical and instrumental examination (hormonal analysis, USI, CT, MRT, in difficult cases in 35 patients--selective phlebography with blood sampling) was carried out in all the patients. Clinical picture in the majority patients with PHA was unclear. Hypokaliemia is not obligatory symptom of PHA. AH is often the only symptom of PHA, therefore all the patients with AH require complex laboratory examination including repeated detection of potassium blood level, examination of serum aldosterone concentration and renin activity, diurnal urinary excretion of aldosterone. In difficult differential diagnosis between APA and IHA it is necessary to perform selective phlebography with blood sampling from inferior cava and adrenal veins with obligatory detection of aldosterone and hydrocortisone concentration. Diagnostic and curative algorithm are developed. Surgical treatment is indicated for patients with APA, and also for ones with IHA who had functionally dominant adrenal gland (based on selective blood sampling analysis) and resistant for drug therapy AH.