Doctors from Queen Mary University of London, Barts Hospital, and Cambridge University Hospital have developed a new CT scan to detect hormone-producing nodules in a gland, which is found in one-in-twenty people with high blood pressure. The study has been published in the journal Nature Medicine and allows researchers to detect nodules after treatment.
Doctors from Queen Mary University of London and Barts Hospital and Cambridge University Hospital have conducted a research utilizing a new technique of CT scan to light up tiny nodules in a hormone gland and cure high blood pressure by their removal. The nodules are discovered in one-in-twenty people with high blood pressure.
The study was published recently in the journal Nature Medicine. It addresses a 60-year problem of how to detect hormone-producing nodules without a complicated catheter examination that is often overlooked in only a few hospitals.
After doctors discovered that their Hypertension (high blood pressure) was caused by a steroid hormone, metomidate, the scan was as accurate, painless, and technically successful in every patient. Until now, the catheter test was unable to predict which patients would completely cure their hypertension by surgical removal of the gland.
The research, which was funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and the Medical Research Council (MRC) partnership, was conducted at Barts Hospital, Cambridge University Hospital, and Universities of Glasgow and Birmingham.
"These aldosterone-producing nodules are very tiny and easily overlooked on a regular CT scan. They are then identified as the obvious cause of Hypertension, which can often then be cured. Until now, 99% of Hypertension cases have never been diagnosed due to the difficulty and lack of testing. Hopefully, this will change."
"This research was the product of years of hard work and collaboration between universities across the United Kingdom," said Professor William Drake, who also gave selflessly during the national pandemic crisis.
The cause of Hypertension (high blood pressure) is unknown in most people, and the condition requires life-long therapy with medications. In 5-10% of people with Hypertension, the cause is a gene mutation in the adrenal glands, which results in excessive amounts of the steroid hormone, aldosterone, being produced, increasing the risk of heart attacks and strokes.
Xilin Wu, Russell Senanayake, Jackie Salsbury, James M. O’Toole, Brendan Koo, Laila Parvanta, Nicholas Bird, Alessandro Prete, Alessandro Prete, Heok Cheow, William M. Drake, and Morris J. Brown, 16 January 2023, Nature Medicine. DOI: 10.1038/s41591-022-02114-5
