Endocrine hypertension.

Many endocrine abnormalities may lead to hypertension. An awareness of these disorders is important for clinicians caring for hypertensive patients, as direct therapy of the endocrine abnormality is frequently successful in reversing the hypertension. All patients with hypertension should be screened for hypokalemia and hypercalcemia, but other screening tests should be performed only under specific circumstances. Biochemical diagnosis of the endocrine abnormality must be established before localization or visualization procedures are undertaken. Therapy of endocrine hypertension is disorder specific, and frequently rests upon surgical correction of the underlying disorder. Despite this, antihypertensive medications are effective in controlling hypertension in many instances.