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A Novel Method: Super-selective Adrenal Venous Sampling
Published on: September 15, 2017
Practical considerations in the scintigraphic evaluation of endocrine hypertension. The adrenal cortex and medulla
1Department of Radiology, University of California, School of Medicine, San Francisco.
Abstract:
A nuclear scan maps the distribution of a radiopharmaceutical that is specific for a physiologic property of a targeted tissue. As such, it is not limited by the anatomic changes necessary for CT and MR scans. It is just because of this that maps of specific metabolic precursors of adrenal medullary and cortical hormones offer information crucial to the therapeutic strategy of endocrine hypertension. NP-59 and MIBG scans can specify the nature of abnormalities revealed by anatomic images and because of the ease of surveying the whole body can give transcendent information about lesions remote from the adrenals. In instances when the origin of endocrine hypertension is not forthcoming from CT or MR imaging or when the anatomic and biochemical findings are in conflict, NP-59 or MIBG can almost always provide the answer.
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