Dexamethasone-suppressible hyperaldosteronism.

Reinvestigation of an 18-yr-old male patient with dexamethasone-suppressible hyperaldosteronism after 6 yr of little or no treatment demonstrates that elevated blood pressure and increased urinary aldosterone excretion still were promptly decreased by a small dose of dexamethasone. Although in a previous report of this patient we suggested that a partial 17a-hydroxylase defect might be the cause of the hyperaldosteronism and hypertension, new secretion rate data presented here rule out this enzyme deficiency. The cause of the hyperaldosteronism is not elucidated by this study. (J Clin Endocrinol Metab 37: 93, 1973)