Imaging by CT and MR in primary aldosteronism: in a pilot study, the AVIS-2-IM study and the AVIS-2-Young study

The present thesis is a collection of the main research studies concerning imaging in PA, conducted during the PhD Course. In the second and third chapters, starting from the large cohort of PA patients recruited in the AVIS-2 study, we investigated respectively: a) if imaging by CT and/or MR could permit an accurate detection of PA and identification of unilateral PA; b) if a unilateral hypodense adrenal nodule alongside a contralateral normally appearing adrenal gland at imaging, can allow an accurate identification of unilateral surgically curable PA in patients aged 45 years or younger. In the fourth chapter I discussed the limitation of imaging in the diagnosis of PA and in its subtyping and which are the new possible algorithms and applications of imaging in PA, starting from the results obtained in the studies shown.