Diagnosis and treatment of primary aldosteronism

Disorders of the adrenal cortex and medulla are often associated with hyper tension, which can be cured surgically in many cases or may require specifi c and timely medical treatments. Therefore, knowledge of adrenal physiology , biochemistry, and molecular biology is essential such that an appropriate diagnostic evaluation can be conducted efficiently. The most common hypert ensive disorder of the adrenal cortex is primary aldosteronism. Aldosterone -producing adenoma is the most common form of primary aldosteronism and is most likely to be cured by unilateral adrenalectomy when aldosterone produc tion is highly autonomous from renin-angiotensin; lateralizes to one adrena l gland, and is associated with overproduction of 18-hydroxycortiocosterone and C18-methyloxygenated metabolites of cortisol. Variants of adrenal hype rplasia that share these characteristics can also be cured by unilateral ad renalectomy.