Researchers at Queen Mary University of London and other institutions have made an exciting discovery using a new type of CT scan.
This scan can find tiny growths in a hormone gland that may be the cause of high blood pressure. The good news? These small nodules can be removed, possibly curing high blood pressure for some people.
For many years—over 60 in fact—doctors struggled to detect these nodules. They are found in about 1 in 20 people with high blood pressure. Until now, the main method to find them involved using a thin tube (called a catheter) to test hormone levels in the adrenal glands. But this method is only available in a few hospitals and often doesn’t work well.
The new CT scan is a big step forward. In the study, scientists used it to scan 128 patients who had high blood pressure caused by a hormone called aldosterone. In two-thirds of these patients, the scan found that a small, non-cancerous nodule in one of their adrenal glands was making too much aldosterone. This caused their blood pressure to rise.
The new scan uses a special dye called metomidate, which is slightly radioactive. It only works for a short time, but it helps show the exact spot where the aldosterone-producing nodule is. Unlike the older catheter test, this scan is quick, doesn’t hurt, and worked for every single patient in the study.
Before this scan, it was very hard to know which patients would benefit from having the adrenal gland removed. Now, with the help of the scan and a simple urine test, doctors can tell who might be able to stop taking blood pressure pills after surgery.
One of the big discoveries from the study is that these nodules are very small and often missed in regular scans. But with the dye, they light up for a few moments, making it easy to see which gland is causing the problem. Without this new method, nearly all of these cases would go undiagnosed.
Combining this scan with a urine steroid test gives doctors a powerful tool. They can now find the patients who are most likely to be cured of high blood pressure after having the gland removed.
This is a huge breakthrough. High blood pressure is one of the main causes of heart disease and stroke. If doctors can spot and treat people who have these hormone-producing nodules, it could greatly reduce the number of people living with high blood pressure—and even save lives.
The researchers hope that this new scan will soon be available in hospitals around the world. More studies are needed to confirm how well it works in larger groups of patients, but the early results are very promising.
This study, led by Professor Morris Brown, was published in the journal Nature Medicine. It offers hope for better, faster, and more effective treatment for people with high blood pressure.
If you care about blood pressure, please read studies about A common blood pressure medication may extend your healthy life span and findings of Common high blood pressure drug linked to sudden cardiac arrest.
For more information about blood pressure, please read studies about Timing matters when taking high blood pressure pills and findings of 1 in 5 people with high blood pressure taking a drug worsen the disease.
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