A group of researchers from UK hospitals come up with a CT scan that can point out the potential cause of high blood pressure.
The doctors from the Cambridge University Hospital, Queen Mary University of London and Barts Hospital developed this technology that can detect tiny modules encapsulated in a hormone gland.
According to the study, one in twenty patients who are suffering with high blood pressure have these nodules.
Detection of Hormone-Producing Nodules
Detecting the hormone-producing modules without relying on a catheter can be quite hard to pull off. This technique is only present in some hospitals and oftentime, it only fails.
According to the latest report by SciTech Daily, the researchers have debunked the health problem that has been existing for six decades.
With the recent study, the healthcare experts are able to scan a common cause of high blood pressure with people suffering from this condition.
How the Experiment Went
As part of the clinical trial, the researchers asked 128 participants to partake in the study. The new research reveals that high blood pressure was caused by aldosterone, a steroid hormone responsible for his problem.
Additionally, the study discovered that the elevated aldosterone secretion from two-thirds of patients who have high blood pressure came from a benign module from the adrenal glands.
Furthermore, the researchers also found out that the new CT scan technology is as effective and accurate as the old catheter test.
To date, the catheter test remains incapable of predicting the likelihood that a patient with hypertension will be cured once the gland was removed through surgery.
"These aldosterone-producing nodules are very small and easily overlooked on a regular CT scan. When they glow for a few minutes after our injection, they are revealed as the obvious cause of Hypertension, which can often then be cured. Until now, 99% are never diagnosed because of the difficulty and unavailability of tests. Hopefully, this is about to change," Professor Morris Brown, the Professor of Endocrine Hypertension at Queen Mary University of London, said.
The Future of Study
Meanwhile, Brown's co-author William Drake, who specializes in Clinical Endocrinology acknowledged that the researchers succeeded in coming up with resourceful research in collaboration with several hospitals across the UK.
Drake adds that the "future of research" in the field of healthcare is in "very safe hands."
Usually, hypertension requires extensive treatment which spans for years and even decades. However, some doctors are not able to identify the root cause of high blood pressure.
SciTech Daily notes that people who have skyrocketing levels of aldosterone have a risk of having heart attacks and strokes.
To access the study entitled "[11C]metomidate PET-CT versus adrenal vein sampling for diagnosing surgically curable primary aldosteronism: a prospective, within-patient trial," visit Nature Medicine.
In other news, Austin American Statesman reported that a new CT scan reveals the amount of calcium deposits inside the heart's arteries.
