Does Contralateral Suppression at Adrenal Venous Sampling Predict Outcome Following Unilateral Adrenalectomy for Primary Aldosteronism? A Retrospective Study

• Published in: The journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism 2015-04, Vol.100 (4), p.1477-1484
• Main Authors: Wolley, Martin J, Gordon, Richard D, Ahmed, Ashraf H, Stowasser, Michael
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adrenal Glands - blood supply; Adrenalectomy; Adult; Aged; Aldosterone - blood; Blood Specimen Collection; Female; Humans; Hydrocortisone - blood; Hyperaldosteronism - blood; Hyperaldosteronism - diagnosis; Hyperaldosteronism - surgery; Male; Middle Aged; Predictive Value of Tests; Prognosis; Retrospective Studies; Young Adult
• ISSN: 0021-972X; 1945-7197
• DOI: 10.1210/jc.2014-3676

Context: In primary aldosteronism (PA), adrenal vein sampling (AVS) distinguishes unilateral and bilateral disease by comparison of aldosterone/cortisol (A/F) ratios. There is controversy about the criteria for interpretation, however, and in particular it is not clear whether contralateral suppression (CS) (defined as A/Fadrenal ≤ A/Fperipheral on the unaffected side) is important. We therefore performed a retrospective study to determine whether CS in surgically treated unilateral PA was associated with blood pressure (BP) and biochemical outcomes. Setting and Design: Patients who underwent unilateral adrenalectomy for PA after successful AVS were included if the lateralization index (A/Fdominant:A/Fnondominant) was ≥2. Cases were reviewed at 6 to 24 months follow-up for outcomes with respect to the presence and degree of CS. Results: Sixty-six of 80 patients had CS. Baseline characteristics were similar. At postoperative follow-up, those with CS had lower systolic BP (SBP) (128 mm Hg vs 144 mm Hg, P = .001), a greater proportion with cure or improvement of hypertension (96% vs 64%, P = .0034), a greater proportion with biochemical cure of PA on fludrocortisone suppression testing (43 of 49 [88%] vs 4 of 9 [44%], P = .002) and were taking a lower median number of antihypertensive medications (0 vs 1.5, P = .0032). In a multivariate model, the degree of CS and preoperative SBP were both significantly correlated with postoperative SBP, but the lateralization index, sex, and age were not. Conclusion: In this study, the presence of CS correlated with good BP and biochemical outcomes from surgery. This finding suggests that CS should be a factor in deciding whether to offer surgery for treatment of PA.