ALDOSTERONE SECRETION AND PRIMARY AND MALIGNANT HYPERTENSION *

Open Access
Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Utilizing a technique of isotope dilution, the amount of aldosterone actually secreted by the adrenal glands per 24 hours has been measured in patients with hypertension. Patients with benign essential hypertension have normal secretion rates of from 180 to 330 [mu]gms/day. In contrast, patients with malignant hypertension usually exhibit marked hypersecretion of aldosterone. In addition to the differences in the clinical picture between patients with malignant hypertension and those with Conn''s syndrome, the hypersecretion of aldosterone may differ in its origin. In malignant hypertension it seems to be due to bilateral adrenal hyperfunction rather than to an adrenal adenoma. Hypersecretion of aldosterone in the syndrome of malignant hypertension may prove to be a secondary or concomitant phenomenon. However, the results presented here make it reasonable to consider the possibility that hypersecretion of aldosterone plays a casual role in malignant hypertension.