Time to Normalizaton of Blood Pressure after an Adrenalectomy for Patients with Primary Aldosteronism

OBJECTIVE: To determine the efficacy of an adrenalectomy in normalizing blood pressure in patients with aldosterone-producing adenomas (APAs), and to determine whether clinical parameters such as age, duration of hypertension, severity of hypertension, and initial plasma aldosterone levels are directly related to the time to normalization of blood pressure after an adrenalectomy. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Data were collected from 13 primary aldosteronism patients who underwent an adrenalectomy for aldosterone-producing adenomas. RESULTS: All patients were hypertensive preoperatively, and eventually, all patients became normotensive without antihypertensive medication postoperatively. The time to normalization of blood pressure ranged from 6 days to 8 months. Of all the clinical parameters evaluated, only the length of hypertension history was correlated with the time to normalization of blood pressure. CONCLUSIONS: Adrenalectomy successfully normalized the blood pressure in hypertensive patients with aldosterone-producing adenomas. However, with the exception of the length of hypertension history, other clinical parameters such as patient’s age at diagnosis, initial blood pressure, and initial aldosterone concentration could not predict the time to normalization of blood pressure after the adrenalectomy.