Superselective Adrenal Arterial Embolization Versus Oral Spironolactone for Treatment of Idiopathic Hyperaldosteronism

December 26, 2025 updated by: Xiongjing Jiang, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Fuwai Hospital

A Prospective Randomized Controlled Trial for Treatment of Idiopathic Hyperaldosteronism: Superselective Adrenal Arterial Embolization Versus Oral Spironolactone

Idiopathic hyperaldosteronism (IHA) represents about 65% of primary hyperaldosteronism cases. Although mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists (MRAs) are the standard first-line treatment, they are often limited by adverse effects. Superselective adrenal artery embolization (SAAE) has been utilized for IHA over the last decade, yet comparative studies against MRAs are lacking. The objective of this study is to compare the safety and efficacy of SAAE and MRA to determine the feasibility of SAAE in treating IHA.

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Recruiting

Conditions

Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied. On ClinicalTrials.gov, conditions may also include other health-related issues, such as lifespan, quality of life, and health risks.

Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.

Detailed Description

Idiopathic hyperaldosteronism (IHA), characterized by bilateral adrenal hyperplasia, constitutes approximately 65% of primary hyperaldosteronism cases. While Mineralocorticoid Receptor Antagonists (MRAs) like spironolactone are the gold-standard medical therapy, their long-term use is frequently hampered by dose-dependent side effects, including gynecomastia, electrolyte imbalances, and renal insufficiency, leading to poor patient compliance.This study investigates Superselective Adrenal Artery Embolization (SAAE) as a minimally invasive interventional alternative. Unlike total adrenalectomy, SAAE targets specific terminal branches of the adrenal arteries to reduce aldosterone overproduction while preserving sufficient cortical function. Despite its clinical application over the last decade, high-quality comparative data between SAAE and pharmacological MRA therapy remain scarce.The primary objective of this research is to evaluate the safety and clinical efficacy of SAAE versus MRA through a randomized controlled trial.

Study Type

Study Type

Describes the nature of a clinical study. Study types include interventional studies (also called clinical trials), observational studies (including patient registries), and expanded access.
Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

Enrollment

The number of participants in a clinical study. The "anticipated" enrollment is the target number of participants that the researchers need for the study.
172

Phase

Phase

The stage of a clinical trial studying a drug or biological product, based on definitions developed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The phase is based on the study's objective, the number of participants, and other characteristics. There are five phases: Early Phase 1 (formerly listed as Phase 0), Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, and Phase 4. Not Applicable is used to describe trials without FDA-defined phases, including trials of devices or behavioral interventions.
  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Contact

The name and contact information for the person who can answer enrollment questions for a clinical study. Each location where the study is being conducted may also have a specific contact, who may be better able to answer those questions.

Study Contact Backup

Study Locations

  • China
    • Beijing Municipality
      • Beijing, Beijing Municipality, China, 100037
        • Recruiting
        • Fuwai Hospital, National Center for Cardiovascular Disease, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College
        • Contact:
        • Sub-Investigator:
          • Hui Dong, MD
    • Jiangxi
      • Nanchang, Jiangxi, China, 330006
        • Recruiting
        • Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University
        • Contact:
    • Sichuan
      • Chengdu, Sichuan, China, 610500
        • Recruiting
        • The First Affiliated Hospital of Chengdu Medical College
        • Contact:

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

The key requirements that people who want to participate in a clinical study must meet or the characteristics they must have. Eligibility criteria consist of both inclusion criteria (which are required for a person to participate in the study) and exclusion criteria (which prevent a person from participating). Types of eligibility criteria include whether a study accepts healthy volunteers, has age or age group requirements, or is limited by sex.

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Child
  • Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  1. Aged from 15 to 60 with no limits in sex;
  2. Patients are diagnosed with primary aldosteronism according to the criteria of the 2016 Endocrine Society guidelines;
  3. Sub-typing diagnosis confirmed idiopathic hyperaldosteronism;
  4. Patients or their legal representatives have to sign written informed consent approved by the ethics committee.

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Unilateral adrenal hyperplasia;
  2. Renal insufficiency with an estimated glomerular filtration rate (based on the modification of diet in renal disease criteria) <45 ml/min/1.73 m², and/or serum creatinine >176 μmol/L；
  3. Hemorrhagic or ischemic stroke, endovascular stent implantation and myocardial infarction within the previous 3 months;
  4. Severe contrast agent allergy;
  5. Women who are pregnant or planning to become pregnant;
  6. Patients with other serious organic diseases cannot tolerate SAAE treatment;
  7. Other forms of secondary hypertension.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Participant Group / Arm

A group or subgroup of participants in a clinical trial that receives a specific intervention/treatment, or no intervention, according to the trial's protocol.
Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.
Experimental: Superselective Adrenal Arterial Embolization
Patients in the experimental group will undergo percutaneous superselective adrenal arterial embolization.
Procedure: Superselective Adrenal Arterial Embolization
Patients in this group will undergo percutaneous superselective adrenal artery embolization (SAAE). Under fluoroscopic guidance, a microcatheter or an over-the-wire balloon catheter will be navigated into the target adrenal arteries, followed by the slow, controlled infusion of absolute ethanol to achieve localized tissue ablation.
Active Comparator: Spironolactone
Patients in this group will receive oral spironolactone.
Drug: Spironolactone
Patients will be treated with spironolactone.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, the planned outcome measure that is the most important for evaluating the effect of an intervention/treatment. Most clinical studies have one primary outcome measure, but some have more than one.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change of 24-h mean systolic blood pressure at 6 months compared with baseline.
Time Frame: 6 months after randomization
change of 24-h mean systolic blood pressure at 6 months compared with baseline.
6 months after randomization

Secondary Outcome Measures

Secondary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, a planned outcome measure that is not as important as the primary outcome measure for evaluating the effect of an intervention but is still of interest. Most clinical studies have more than one secondary outcome measure.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change of 24-h mean diastolic blood pressure at 6 months compared with baseline.
Time Frame: 6 months after randomization
change of 24-h mean diastolic blood pressure at 6 months compared with baseline.
6 months after randomization
Change of office systolic and diastolic blood pressure at 1, 3, 6 months, 24-h mean systolic and diastolic blood pressure at 1, 3 months, compared with baseline
Time Frame: 1, 3, 6 months after randomization
Change of office blood pressure at 1, 3, 6 months compared with baseline
1, 3, 6 months after randomization
change of antihypertensive medication burden at 1, 3, 6 months compared with baseline
Time Frame: 1, 3, 6 months after randomization
change of antihypertensive medication burden at 6 months compared with baseline
1, 3, 6 months after randomization
Incidence of clinical events
Time Frame: 6 months after randomization
Incidence of clinical events including: major adverse cardiovascular events(MACE), renal insufficiency, adrenal insufficiency, hyperkalemia, vascular complication, flank/back pain, gynecomastia, breast tenderness, sexual dysfunction,etc.
6 months after randomization
Change of Serum potassium at 3, 6 months after randomization, compared with baseline
Time Frame: 3,6 months after randomization
Change of Serum potassium at 3, 6 months compared with baseline
3,6 months after randomization
Change of plasma aldostrone, renin, cortisol concentration at 3, 6 months compared with baseline
Time Frame: 3, 6 months after randomization
Change of plasma aldostrone, renin, cortisol concentration at 3, 6 months compared with baseline
3, 6 months after randomization
Change of estimated glomerular filtration rate(eGFR) and at 3, 6 months compared with baseline
Time Frame: 3, 6 months after randomization
Change of estimated glomerular filtration rate(eGFR) and at 3, 6 months compared with baseline
3, 6 months after randomization

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Sponsor

The organization or person who initiates the study and who has authority and control over the study.
Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Fuwai Hospital

Collaborators

Collaborators

An organization other than the sponsor that provides support for a clinical study. This support may include activities related to funding, design, implementation, data analysis, or reporting.
Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University
First Affiliated Hospital of Chengdu Medical College

Investigators

Investigators

A researcher involved in a clinical study. Related terms include site principal investigator, site sub-investigator, study chair, study director, and study principal investigator.
  • Principal Investigator: Xiongjing Jiang, MD, Fuwai Hospital, National Center for Cardiovascular Disease

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

Study Start

The actual date on which the first participant was enrolled in a clinical study. The "anticipated" study start date is the date that the researchers think will be the study start date.
August 1, 2022

Primary Completion (Estimated)

Primary Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention to collect final data for the primary outcome measure. Whether the clinical study ended according to the protocol or was terminated does not affect this date. For clinical studies with more than one primary outcome measure with different completion dates, this term refers to the date on which data collection is completed for all the primary outcome measures. The "anticipated" primary completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the primary completion date for the study.
December 31, 2025

Study Completion (Estimated)

Study Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention/treatment to collect final data for the primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, and adverse events (that is, the last participant's last visit). The "anticipated" study completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the study completion date.
December 31, 2025

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

First Submitted

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submitted a study record to ClinicalTrials.gov. There is typically a delay of a few days between the first submitted date and the record's availability on ClinicalTrials.gov (the first posted date).
December 26, 2025

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submits a study record that is consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. The sponsor or investigator may need to revise and submit a study record one or more times before NLM's QC review criteria are met. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
December 26, 2025

First Posted (Actual)

First Posted

The date on which the study record was first available on ClinicalTrials.gov after National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review has concluded. There is typically a delay of a few days between the date the study sponsor or investigator submitted the study record and the first posted date.
January 9, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

Last Update Posted

The most recent date on which changes to a study record were made available on ClinicalTrials.gov. There may be a delay between when the changes were submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov by the study's sponsor or investigator (the last update submitted date) and the last update posted date.
January 9, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator submitted changes to a study record that are consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
December 26, 2025

Last Verified

Last Verified

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator confirmed the information about a clinical study on ClinicalTrials.gov as accurate and current. If a study with a recruitment status of recruiting; not yet recruiting; or active, not recruiting has not been confirmed within the past 2 years, the study's recruitment status is shown as unknown.
December 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

Other Study ID Numbers

Identifiers or ID numbers other than the NCT number that are assigned to a clinical study by the study's sponsor, funders, or others. These numbers may include unique identifiers from other trial registries and National Institutes of Health grant numbers.
  • 2022-1714

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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