Key result
Updated guidelines broaden primary aldosteronism screening to all patients with blood pressure >=140/90 mm Hg.
Why the study?
Primary aldosteronism is common, underdiagnosed, and associated with excess cardiorenal risk, prompting a review of recent changes in screening, diagnosis, treatment, and implementation.
This narrative review highlights the paradigm shift in primary aldosteronism management toward broader, medication-tolerant screening, selective use of confirmatory suppression testing, emerging noninvasive molecular imaging, and renin-guided medical therapy alongside novel aldosterone-targeting agents.
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
Broadened screening may raise primary aldosteronism detection in hypertension; leaves open the net benefit of de-emphasized confirmatory testing.
Purposeof Review Primary aldosteronism (PA) is common, underdiagnosed, and associated with excess cardiorenal risk. We review recent changes in screening, diagnosis, treatment, and implementation. Recent Findings Contemporary guidelines have broadened screening and reduced barriers to aldosterone-to-renin ratio testing through medication-tolerant, assay-aware interpretation. Confirmatory aldosterone suppression testing is increasingly de-emphasized, with selective use or omission in high-probability patients when results are unlikely to change management. Adrenal vein sampling remains standard for most surgical candidates, while molecular imaging is emerging as a noninvasive alternative. Adrenalectomy is preferred for lateralizing disease; mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists remain first-line therapy for bilateral or nonoperative disease, with renin response increasingly used to assess dosing adequacy. Finerenone and aldosterone synthase inhibitors are potential emerging options. Summary PA care is shifting from a rigid multistep workup toward earlier detection and treatment-directed evaluation. Future work should define scalable screening pathways and compare outcomes of emerging diagnostic and therapeutic strategies.
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Balhara et al. (2026) conducted a review in Primary aldosteronism in hypertensive patients. Contemporary screening, diagnosis, and targeted treatment of primary aldosteronism (adrenalectomy or mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists) was evaluated. Contemporary primary aldosteronism guidelines broaden screening to all patients with blood pressure >=140/90 mm Hg while de-emphasizing routine confirmatory suppression testing.
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