OVERVIEW
This page is dedicated to organizing various examples of standardized exam questions whose answer is aldosteronoma. While this may seem a odd practice, it is useful to see multiple examples of how aldosteronoma will be characterized on standardized exams (namely the boards and the shelf exams). This page is not meant to be used as a traditional question bank (as all of the answers will be the same), however seeing the classic “test” characterization for a disease is quite valuable.
QUESTION EXAMPLES
Question # 1
An otherwise healthy 35 year old female comes to the clinic because of a recent history of headaches. She has been having them for 2 months and now they are occurring daily. She is able to get temporary relief by using aspirin. Her pulse is 80/min, respiration’s are 13/min, and her blood pressure is 160/100 mm Hg. Her physical exam is not remarkable. Serum studies are shown below:
- Sodium: 141 mEq/L
- Chloride: 100 mEq/L
- Potassium: 2.5 mEq/L
- Bicarbonate: 35 mEq/L
- Creatinine: 1.0 mg/dL
What diagnosis could cause this clinical picture?
Explanation: hypertension + high sodium + low potassium + high bicarbonate = aldosteronoma (high aldosterone activity)
Page Updated: 01.22.2017