Indication and technical aspects of adrenal blood sampling

Abstract

Adrenal disorders are relative frequent with regard to the incidence of adrenal tumors and the high portion in causes of secondary hypertension. Morphological changes in the adrenal glands can lead to very different functional disorders that may be clinically overt or hard to diagnose. On the other hand, they can already be functionally relevant when structural changes are too small to be picked up by imaging. Adrenal venous sampling serves to determine the source of hormone excess through the analysis of adrenal blood. In this manuscript, we call attention to the clinical backgrounds, critical points in praxis, technical aspects and developments in the the field of adrenal venous sampling. The consideration of these important points in the clincal setting may make adrenal vein sampling studies sucessful and help to select patients that qualify for adrenalectomy.