A Rare Independent Left Inferior Phrenic Vein Sampling in a Left Adrenal Aldosterone-Producing Adenoma

Abstract

This report presents a case of left adrenal aldosterone-producing adenoma (APA) diagnosed by segmental adrenal venous sampling in a patient with primary aldosteronism and a rare venous anomaly in which the left inferior phrenic vein (LIPV) and adrenal central vein entered the left renal vein separately. The outflow of tumor blood into the LIPV and the specimen from the LIPV that showed much higher aldosterone level than that from the adrenal central vein and tributaries were useful for proving the aldosterone hypersecretion from the APA. Sampling from the LIPV could be of diagnostic value for left APA.

Keywords

• Adrenal venous sampling
• Aldosterone-producing adenoma
• Hypertension
• Primary aldosteronism