Adrenocorticotropic Hormone-Stimulated Adrenal Venous Sampling Underestimates Surgically Curable Primary Aldosteronism: A Retrospective Cohort Study and Review of Contemporary Studies

Guidelines recommend adrenal venous sampling to determine disease laterality in primary aldosteronism. Adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) stimulation clearly improves the likelihood of successful adrenal vein catheterization but may lead to a decrease in lateralization rates. To examine the impact o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Hypertension (Dallas, Tex. 1979) Tex. 1979), 2021-07, Vol.78 (1), p.HYPERTENSIONAHA12117248-103
Main Authors: Yozamp, Nicholas, Hundemer, Gregory L, Moussa, Marwan, Underhill, Jonathan, Fudim, Tali, Sacks, Barry, Vaidya, Anand
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:Guidelines recommend adrenal venous sampling to determine disease laterality in primary aldosteronism. Adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) stimulation clearly improves the likelihood of successful adrenal vein catheterization but may lead to a decrease in lateralization rates. To examine the impact of ACTH on lateralization, we performed a retrospective analysis of 340 patients with confirmed primary aldosteronism who underwent adrenal venous sampling with a single interventional radiology team using a protocol of sampling both before and after an ACTH bolus. In addition to this original research, we conducted a review of similar studies from the past 5 years to develop a consensus on the impact of ACTH on lateralization for primary aldosteronism. In the original research analysis, following a bolus of ACTH, 58% of patients had a decline in lateralization index which led to discordance between the pre-ACTH and post-ACTH classifications of lateralization in up to 26% of cases. The majority of discordant cases were due to reclassification from unilateral disease pre-ACTH to bilateral disease post-ACTH. In patients who already lateralized with unstimulated sampling, the response to ACTH did not have any impact on surgical outcomes. In a review of contemporary studies, we identified 11 similar studies in the past 5 years, of which 10 reported either no change or a decrease in lateralization index following ACTH, resulting in ≈25% discordance between unstimulated and stimulated lateralization rates. We conclude that ACTH stimulation during adrenal venous sampling can underestimate surgically remediable primary aldosteronism and recommend that the role of ACTH be limited primarily to enhancing selectivity.
ISSN:0194-911X
1524-4563
DOI:10.1161/HYPERTENSIONAHA.121.17248