Dr. Sepideh Moayed is a physician who guides Preventative Medicine, Inc., and provides various radiology services. The imaging that Dr. Sepideh Moayed delivers is essential in identifying diseases such as hypertension in their early stages.
A January 2023 article in Nature Medicine focused on a new PET/CT scan approach that may transform high blood pressure diagnosis and treatment. With elevated aldosterone, a steroid hormone, the most prevalent cause of hypertension, identifying the nodules that overproduce it has traditionally been challenging. The conventional approach involves adrenal vein sampling, a catheter approach that (when available) is invasive and produces inconsistent results.
By contrast, the new process involves injecting the radioactive dye metomidate, which specifically binds to aldosterone-producing nodules. At this point, the physician performs a 10-minute PET/CT scan that lights up these aldosterone-producing nodules within the adrenal gland. In cases where the tiny nodules continue to glow for several minutes following injection, a cause of hypertension is revealed. Options moving forward include surgically removing the patient’s nodules or working to address contributing lifestyle factors.
