🔰What should you be looking for?
💥Clinical signs of end organ damage:
• Fundoscopy: hypertensive retinopathy grades I–IV
• LVH: forceful/displaced apex beat, loud A2
• Proteinuria.
💥Causes of secondary HT:
• Coarctation of the aorta: have you felt the femorals, especially in the young patient?
• Renal disease: renal bruits/proteinuria/urea and electrolytes
• Cushing’s syndrome: obesity, striae; might have low K+
• Conn’s syndrome: no signs; usually low K+ and high normal Na+
• Phaeochromocytoma: presentation often atypical (e.g. acute pulmo-nary oedema, sweating attacks) rather than textbook flushing/palpitations.
💥Baseline investigations:
• U&Es, eGFR and glucose: look for electrolyte imbalances (e.g. Conn’s, renal disease and diabetes)
💥Clinical signs of end organ damage:
• Fundoscopy: hypertensive retinopathy grades I–IV
• LVH: forceful/displaced apex beat, loud A2
• Proteinuria.
💥Causes of secondary HT:
• Coarctation of the aorta: have you felt the femorals, especially in the young patient?
• Renal disease: renal bruits/proteinuria/urea and electrolytes
• Cushing’s syndrome: obesity, striae; might have low K+
• Conn’s syndrome: no signs; usually low K+ and high normal Na+
• Phaeochromocytoma: presentation often atypical (e.g. acute pulmo-nary oedema, sweating attacks) rather than textbook flushing/palpitations.
💥Baseline investigations:
• U&Es, eGFR and glucose: look for electrolyte imbalances (e.g. Conn’s, renal disease and diabetes)