21–30 of 92 posts
1 in 20 is "most"? What about the other 19 in 20? I was under the impression that the most common cause was being fat.
1 in 20 is "most"? What about the other 19 in 20? I was under the impression that the most common cause was being fat.
" The scan found that in two thirds of patients with elevated aldosterone secretion, this is coming from a benign nodule in just one of the adrenal glands, which can then be safely removed."
So it seems that 2/3 of the cause of HBP is elevated aldosterone, but 1/20 of cases this can be fixed with a not-so-invasive procedure.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
- this only concerns 5 - 10% of all hypertension patients - ~50% of adult Americans have hypertension - scanning all medication-non-responders (= people suffering from "resistant hypertension") and operating on all of them to remove the causative nodules sounds like quite the tall order - doctors won't just suddenly start sending all the resistant hypertension patients to CTs to diagnose this cause, instead they will…
isn't a single CT scan and surgery cheaper than 40 years of medication?
Many of those patients will continue to have high blood pressure for other reasons (obesity, fat intake, renal impairment, god knows what else) and will need to continue their medication, maybe they will downgrade (upgrade? (-; ) from treatment resistant hypertension to normal hypertension. A significant amount of the patients receiving surgery will suffer from mild to severe bacterial infections that also need treatment.
At the top of my head I would still say yes, it would be cheaper.
ALSO and BUT: Please do not expect a treatment that is both cheaper and better for the quality of life of the patient to be chosen by default. Hospitals and doctors don't work that way.
https://assets.researchsquare.com/files/rs-1179128/v1_covere...
Metomidate is a molecule (C_13 H_14 N_2 O_2) that naturally collects in the adrenal glands, and 11C-metomidate is a version where some of the carbon atoms are carbon-11, a radioactive version that will show up on PET-CT scans.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metomidate
For reference, a PET-CT scan costs $1k-$10k in the US. Not sure how much the radioactive tracer adds.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
- this only concerns 5 - 10% of all hypertension patients - ~50% of adult Americans have hypertension - scanning all medication-non-responders (= people suffering from "resistant hypertension") and operating on all of them to remove the causative nodules sounds like quite the tall order - doctors won't just suddenly start sending all the resistant hypertension patients to CTs to diagnose this cause, instead they will…
isn't a single CT scan and surgery cheaper than 40 years of medication?
1 in 20 is "most"? What about the other 19 in 20? I was under the impression that the most common cause was being fat.
The vast majority of arterial hypertension is “essential hypertension,” meaning no identifiable cause. I assume this is (misleadingly) saying that of the secondary (non-essential) hypertension cases, the condition that this scan detects is the most common.
Tangent: "Commonest" is listed in the dictionary as an acceptable alternative to "most common", but I can't recall ever hearing it before. According to Ngram the latter is 20 times more common (or commoner, heh) but I would still have expected to remembering hearing it. Is this a UK vs. US thing?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
- this only concerns 5 - 10% of all hypertension patients - ~50% of adult Americans have hypertension - scanning all medication-non-responders (= people suffering from "resistant hypertension") and operating on all of them to remove the causative nodules sounds like quite the tall order - doctors won't just suddenly start sending all the resistant hypertension patients to CTs to diagnose this cause, instead they will…
isn't a single CT scan and surgery cheaper than 40 years of medication?
I like to minimize on my needed medications though. I would probably opt for this if it were available.
Tangent: "Commonest" is listed in the dictionary as an acceptable alternative to "most common", but I can't recall ever hearing it before. According to Ngram the latter is 20 times more common (or commoner, heh) but I would still have expected to remembering hearing it. Is this a UK vs. US thing?
It seems you have identified the second commonest cause of high blood pressure.