Grant: Project Grant

High blood pressure affects more than 6 million Canadians, and is a leading cause of heart attacks and strokes. Around 1 in 5 people with high blood pressure have "primary aldosteronism" (PA). People with PA have high blood pressure because their adrenal glands make too much salt-retaining hormone (aldosterone). With PA, either one or two adrenal glands may be malfunctioning. It is important to properly diagnose PA so patients can receive the right treatment. Besides being common, PA is also very dangerous. People with PA are 3 times more likely to suffer a stroke, 2 times more likely to have a heart attack, and 4 times more likely to get an irregular heart rhythm compared to people living with high blood pressure from other causes. When people with PA are properly treated, their risk for heart disease and stroke goes down to average. The standard test that is used to figure out whether one or two adrenal glands may be overactive is called "adrenal vein sampling" (AVS). Without this test, patients with PA cannot get the best treatment. This test is difficult because it is invasive and can only be performed by very skilled doctors in a handful of places in the world. In places where AVS is available, patients are 50-times more likely to be treated compared to if they lived somewhere else. Unfortunately, the limited availability of AVS prevents most patients from being correctly diagnosed and treated. A large step towards helping patients is to provide a good alternative to AVS. For this reason, this project is focused on creating a simple non-invasive test (called "CETO") to help patients who are suffering from PA to be quickly identified and treated. This project will help us to know whether CETO can show which part of the body is making too much salt-retaining hormone, as an alternative to AVS. CETO is very appealing because it will be something that can be easily brought into most major cities in Canada. Unlike AVS, CETO is also non-invasive and can be scaled.