Some forms of secondary high blood pressure need to be treated with surgery. For example, if your condition is due to narrowing of the largest blood vessel in your body (coarctation of the aorta), surgical repair or stents placed in your aorta can cure your secondary high blood pressure and may be the most suitable treatment choice.
To treat other forms of secondary hypertension, you may need to take medicines. For example, your doctor may prescribe a drug known as spironolactone to treat hyperaldosteronism, a hormone disorder where your body produces too much of the hormone aldosterone, which controls how your kidneys maintain a salt and water balance.
Some people may need a combination of surgical treatment and medicines. For example, people who have renal artery stenosis and high blood pressure can be treated initially with medicines. But they may also need surgery, or angioplasty with or without a stent, to treat stenosis if medicines alone do not succeed in controlling the effects of the condition. In this case, a doctor may suggest a surgical procedure that would remove obstructions in the renal arteries, which carry blood to your kidneys.
Cause of secondary hypertension |
What it means |
Treatment |
|---|---|---|
| Renal artery stenosis | Narrowing of the artery that carries blood to your kidneys, which restricts blood flow to the kidney |
|
| Pheochromocytoma | A tumor on your adrenal gland that causes the release of hormones |
|
| Coarctation of the aorta | Narrowing of the largest artery in your body (the aorta that carries blood from your heart to the rest of your body) |
|
| Pituitary adenoma secreting growth hormone | A tumor on your pituitary gland that produces excess growth hormone |
|
| Cushing's disease | A tumor on your pituitary gland secretes too much of the hormone that stimulates cortisol production, a hormone that helps regulate your metabolism. |
|
| High cardiac output states | Your body demands too much blood, causing your heart to overexert itself. |
|
| Prescribed medicines and other drugs | Some prescribed medicines and illicit drugs, such as cocaine, can cause high blood pressure. |
|
| Hyperaldosteronism | Excess production of the hormone aldosterone, which controls salt and water balance in your kidneys |
|
Your doctor may treat not only your high blood pressure but also the condition that is causing high blood pressure if it will take a long time to cure that condition or if your blood pressure is dangerously high. If it takes too long to cure the condition causing high blood pressure, this potentially allows more time for high blood pressure to damage your system.
Your doctor may choose to treat your high blood pressure directly instead of treating your condition causing high blood pressure if treatment for that condition is too complex or high-risk for you. For example, you may have renal artery stenosis, which typically requires surgery. But if your overall health is too delicate to withstand such surgery, it may make more sense to treat just your high blood pressure instead.
Treating the condition that is the cause of secondary high blood pressure will not always lower your blood pressure back to a normal level. In this case, you may need to treat the high blood pressure itself.
Credits
| Author | Robin Parks, MS |
| Editor | Kathleen M. Ariss, MS |
| Associate Editor | Pat Truman, MATC |
| Primary Medical Reviewer | Caroline S. Rhoads, MD - Internal Medicine |
| Specialist Medical Reviewer | Robert A. Kloner, MD, PhD - Cardiology |
| Specialist Medical Reviewer | Ruth Schneider, MPH, RD - Diet and Nutrition |
| Last Updated | April 24, 2007 |
