Comparison of Cardiac Structural and Functional Changes Between Surgery and Medication Treatment in Patients With Primary Aldosteronism Based on Echocardiography

Objective: Conducted a systematic meta-analysis on the changes in follow-up parameters of echocardiography in patients with primary aldosteronism after surgery and drug treatment, in order to explore their differences. Design and method: We conducted the PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane library databases for English full-text articles on the follow-up study of echocardiography parameters in PA patients before and after surgery and drug treatment published from its establishment until June 1, 2023,Perform meta-analysis on the included studies using RevMan software. Results: A total of 515 PA patients (>18 years old) were included in 4 studies, including the surgical group (n=303) and the medication group (n=212), 2 short-term follow-up studies (average follow-up time of 1 year), and 2 long-term follow-up studies (average follow-up time of 3.7 years). Surgery treatment had better performance in improving cardiac contractile function, The main manifestation is the reversal of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVMI: M=-2.6, p=0.047), while there is no significant improvement in cardiac diastolic function (E/A: M=+0.06, p=0.51); In long-term follow-up studies, surgery and medical treatment still showed significant benefits in reducing blood pressure (surgical group: -14 ± 6 mm Hg/-9 ± 10 mm Hg, p<0.001; drug group: -10 ± 12mmHg/-11 ± 9mmHg, p<0.001). Interestingly, the surgical group and drug group did not show better blood pressure control effects than short-term follow-up (p=0.56), Surgery (LVMI: M=-12.6, p=0.01)and medication (LVMI: M=-11.9, p=0.01])can significantly improve left ventricular hypertrophy in patients, with no significant difference (P=0.143). Although surgery (E/A: M=+0.14, p=0.125) and medication (E/A: M=+0.09, p=0.2) can numerically improve diastolic function, there is no statistically significant difference. Conclusions: Both medication and surgical treatment can reverse the damage to the heart structure and function in PA patients. In the short term, surgical treatment has a more significant reversal of cardiac function, especially in left ventricular hypertrophy, but in the long term, there is no significant difference between medication and surgical treatment.