Clinical biochemistry: screening for primary aldosteronism: practice question

The best answer is D, Plasma aldosterone-to-renin ratio. Primary aldosteronism causes hypertension, hypokalaemia and alkalosis with suppressed renin.

Late-night salivary cortisol screens for Cushing syndrome.

Vanillylmandelic acid is a catecholamine metabolite used for phaeochromocytoma or neuroblastoma.

Plasma free metanephrines screen for phaeochromocytoma.

It tests Clinical biochemistry: screening for primary aldosteronism in Biochemistry. A raised plasma aldosterone-to-renin ratio is the recommended screening test, followed by confirmatory suppression testing and adrenal vein sampling when surgery is considered.

We tag it as an application question: it asks you to use a fact on a patient or a finding. The tag is our own editorial judgement, not an official difficulty rating, so read the reason for every option, not only the answer.

Build one table of enzyme deficiency, disease, inheritance and key finding, then revise it by spaced recall. Then use the flashcards and the other Biochemistry questions on this site to test what stuck.

No. It is an original practice item (editorial status: sample, version 1). NextPrep does not publish recalled or leaked questions, and independent faculty review of this item has not been completed yet, so confirm important facts in a standard textbook.