[7][8] Many patients experience fatigue, potassium deficiency and high blood pressure which may cause poor vision, confusion or headaches.
[1][2] Symptoms may also include: muscular aches and weakness, muscle spasms, low back and flank pain from the kidneys, trembling, tingling sensations, dizziness/vertigo, nocturia and excessive urination.
[1] Complications include cardiovascular disease such as stroke, myocardial infarction, kidney failure and abnormal heart rhythms.
[3] Screening is usually done by measuring the aldosterone-to-renin ratio in the blood (ARR) whilst off interfering medications and a serum potassium over 4, with further testing used to confirm positive results.
[4] In cases due to enlargement of both glands, treatment is typically with medications known as aldosterone antagonists such as spironolactone or eplerenone.
[citation needed] Secondary hyperaldosteronism is often related to decreased cardiac output, which is associated with elevated renin levels.
[13] The condition is due to:[14] 40% of people with an adrenal aldosterone producing adenoma have somatic gain-of-function mutations in a single gene (KCNJ5).
[15] This gene is mutated in inherited cases of early onset primary aldosteronism and bilateral adrenal hyperplasia, albeit less frequently.
[13] Finer notes on aldosterone include the fact that it stimulates sodium-potassium ATPase in muscle cells, increasing intracellular potassium and also increases sodium reabsorption all along the intestine and nephron, possibly due to widespread stimulation of sodium-potassium ATPase.
[22] Measuring sodium and potassium concentrations simultaneously in serum and urine specimens has been suggested for screening purposes.
Imaging findings may ultimately lead to other necessary diagnostic studies, such as adrenal venous sampling, to clarify the cause.
[22][10] For cases where AVS is unable to provide lateralisation of the source/sources of aldosterone hypersecretion, radionuclide imaging such as NP-59 scintigraphy,[25] or PET/CT with 11C-Metomidate is an option.
[citation needed] Some people only use Conn's syndrome for when it occurs due to an adrenal adenoma (a type of benign tumor).
[1] Other causes of treatment-resistant hypertension include renal artery stenosis, secondary hyperaldosteronism, pheochromocytoma, deoxycorticosterone- or renin-secreting tumors, and kidney ischemia.
For people with hyperplasia of both glands, successful treatment is often achieved with spironolactone or eplerenone, drugs that block the aldosterone receptor.
[30] In the absence of treatment, individuals with hyperaldosteronism often have poorly controlled high blood pressure, which may be associated with increased rates of stroke, heart disease, and kidney failure.