The Concordance between Imaging and Adrenal Venous Sampling Varies with Aldosterone-Driver Somatic Mutation

BACKGROUND Correct subtyping of primary aldosteronism (PA) is critical for guiding clinical management. Adrenal imaging is less accurate than adrenal vein sampling (AVS); nonetheless, AVS is invasive, technically challenging, and scarcely available. OBJECTIVE To identify predictors of concordance between cross-sectional imaging and lateralized AVS in patients with PA that could help circumvent AVS in a subset of patients. METHODS We retrospectively studied all patients with PA who underwent AVS in a tertiary referral center between 2009-2019. AVS was performed before and after cosyntropin stimulation. Patients with lateralized AVS in at least one condition were included. Aldosterone synthase-guided next-generation sequencing was performed on available adrenal tissue. Logistic regression was implemented to identify predictors of imaging-AVS lateralization concordance. RESULTS 234 patients (62% men), age 20-79, 73% white, 23% black, and 2% Asian were included. AVS lateralization was found: 1) both pre- and post-cosyntropin (Uni/Uni) in 138 patients; 2) only at baseline (Uni/Bi) in 39 patients; 3) only after cosyntropin stimulation (Bi/Uni) in 29 patients. Catheterization partially failed in 28 patients. AVS-imaging agreement was higher in patients with KCNJ5 vs. other aldosterone-driver somatic mutations (90.3% vs. 64.6%, p&0.001); in Asian and white vs. black Americans (75%, 70%, and 36%, respectively); in younger patients; and those with left adrenal nodules and contralateral suppression. Conversely, AVS-imaging agreement was lowest in Uni/Bi patients (38% vs. 69% in Uni/Uni, and 62% in Bi/Uni, p=0.007). CONCLUSIONS While AVS-imaging agreement is higher in young white and Asian patients, with KCNJ5-mutated aldosterone producing adenomas, no predictor confers absolute imaging accuracy.