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RecruitingNCT07691801Updated Jul 9, 2026

Study on the Application of Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry for the Determination of Aldosterone and Renin Activity in the Diagnosis of Primary Aldosteronism by Captopril Test

An observational study in Primary Aldosteronism, sponsored by Peking Union Medical College Hospital. Recruiting at 1 site in China. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 70 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-07-09.

Sponsored by Peking Union Medical College Hospital · Observational

From the registry’s dates

  • Primary completion was expected by Aug 2026, 3 months ago, but the record still lists the study as recruiting.
  • Started Apr 2025; still recruiting 1 year 6 months later.
Study type
Observational
Model
Cohort
Time perspective
Prospective
Enrollment
800
Ages
18 Years to 70 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

Primary aldosteronism (PA) is the most common cause of secondary hypertension. Liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) is more accurate than the traditional radioimmunoassay method in measuring aldosterone. This study aims to establish a more precise diagnostic cutoff value for the captopril stimulation test (CCT) by measuring aldosterone levels using LC-MS/MS. The investigators will combine the detection results of CCT from healthy volunteers and suspected PA patients, etc., to determine the new CCT cutoff value. The investigators expect to improve the diagnostic accuracy of PA, helping clinicians identify this curable cause of hypertension earlier and more accurately, and achieving precise treatment.

02

Conditions studied

  • Primary Aldosteronism

Keywords

  • diagnose
  • Captopril Inhibition Test (CCT)
03

In context

Hyperaldosteronism

201 studies on the registry are indexed under Hyperaldosteronism; 93 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 800 is above the median of 200 across 103 observational studies indexed under Hyperaldosteronism.

Browse Hyperaldosteronism studies →

Lead sponsor

Peking Union Medical College Hospital is the lead sponsor of 1,155 studies on the registry; 475 are open to participants now.

Of its 5 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 0 (0%) have results posted.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years to 70 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
Yes
Sampling method
Non-probability sample

Study population

1)Healthy Controls to establish physiological suppression limits.2) Patients with suspected PA undergo captopril inhibition test to determine the cut-off point.

Eligibility criteria

Normal Control Group

Inclusion Criteria

  • Age 18-70 years old
  • : 18.5-23.9kg/m²
  • Gender not restricted
  • Blood pressure: 100-120/60-80mmHg
  • No history of hypertension
  • No abnormal nodules found in adrenal CT
  • Previous blood potassium and were all within normal ranges
  • No history of liver or kidney dysfunction, malignant tumors, metabolic diseases or cardiovascular diseases
  • No medication used

Exclusion Criteria

  • Those with a family history of hypertension or with clinical manifestations of secondary hypertension
  • Those who have been taking drugs that may affect the RAAS system for a long time (such as , , etc.)
  • Those with cardiac dysfunction or severe arrhythmia and unable to tolerate the test

Patients with suspected primary aldosteronism

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Patients with suspected primary aldosteronism in the outpatient setting
  • Willing to undergo 4-week spironolactone treatment and cooperate with follow-up

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Patients who did not complete the captopril suppression test
  • Patients with Cushing's syndrome or other endocrine tumors
  • Patients allergic to spironolactone or with for its use (such as severe hyperkalemia, \< 30)
  • History of liver or kidney dysfunction
  • Coexisting severe cardiovascular or cerebrovascular diseases
  • History of malignant tumors
  • Other types of endocrine hypertension (hyperthyroidism, pheochromocytoma, Cushing's syndrome, etc.)
  • Renal artery stenosis
  • Hypokalemia caused by other factors (renal tubular acidosis, Bartter syndrome, Gitelman syndrome, etc.)
  • Diabetes with > 7.0% or currently using or having used insulin or SGLT2 inhibitor drugs
  • Taking special medications such as glucocorticoids, , oral contraceptives, etc
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(8)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

BMI (body mass index)

Weight in kilograms divided by height in metres squared. Example: 70 kg and 1.75 m gives 70 ÷ (1.75 × 1.75) ≈ 22.9.

What counts as overweight or obesity differs between countries (some use lower cut-offs), so go by the range the study states.

ECG (electrocardiogram)

A recording of the heart’s electrical activity, taken with stickers on the chest, arms and legs. It takes a few minutes and does not hurt.

Contraception

Ways of preventing pregnancy. “Highly effective” methods fail less than 1% of the time a year when used correctly — for example an IUD or an implant.

Criteria usually say which methods count and how long to keep using them after the last dose, sometimes for male participants too. Some studies accept a partner’s vasectomy if it was confirmed successful and that person is the participant’s only sexual partner.

Corticosteroids (steroids)

Anti-inflammatory medicines such as prednisone, prednisolone and dexamethasone — not the anabolic steroids used for muscle.

Studies differ in what they allow: check which steroid medicines, routes (tablets, injections, creams, inhalers, eye drops) and doses this study accepts.

Contraindication

A reason a treatment, test or procedure should not be given to a particular person, such as an allergy, another illness or a medicine they take.

GFR and eGFR (kidney filtering)

GFR (glomerular filtration rate) is how much blood the kidneys filter each minute. It is usually estimated from a blood test — eGFR, by formulas such as CKD-EPI or MDRD — and some studies ask for it to be measured directly instead. Usually given in mL/min/1.73 m².

Check the method, the units and the minimum the study states. A value of 90 or above is in the normal-or-high range, but kidney damage can show in other tests too.

HbA1c

A blood test of average blood sugar over the past two to three months, given as a percentage or in mmol/mol. 6.5% (48 mmol/mol) or more is the usual threshold for diabetes, normally confirmed by a second test.

Immunosuppression

A weakened immune system. It can come from an illness, such as HIV or some blood cancers, or from medicines that turn the immune system down, for example after an organ transplant or for an autoimmune disease; steroids at higher doses count.

Read whether the line is about a condition or about medicines, and which medicines and doses it means.

05

Study design

Observational model
Cohort
Time perspective
Prospective
Enrollment
800 participants (estimated)
Target follow-up
6 Months
Patient registry
Yes

Groups and cohorts

  • normal sujects

    Healthy volunteers with normal blood pressure, normal blood potassium levels, and no adrenal nodules. These individuals were used to establish the normal physiological range (lower limit) of aldosterone suppression after the test.

    Diagnostic Test: Captopril inhibition test(CCT)

  • Patients suspected of having primary aldosteronism

    Patients suspected of having primary aldosteronism

    Diagnostic Test: Captopril inhibition test(CCT)

Interventions

  • Diagnostic testCaptopril inhibition test(CCT)

    The subjects are required to stop using any drugs that affect the RAAS system in advance. At 08:00 on the test day, they are to remain seated and collect baseline blood samples. Then, they are to take 25mg of captopril orally. After taking the medicine, they are to remain seated and fast for 2 hours, and then collect blood samples again at 10:00. The blood samples collected at these two time points will undergo mass spectrometry analysis to detect plasma aldosterone and renin activity, and 24-hour urine samples will be collected to measure 24-hour urine sodium and 24-hour urine potassium.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Plasma Aldosterone Concentration (PAC) by LC-MS/MS before and after captopril inhibition test

    Time frame: Two weeks after completing the captopril inhibition test

  2. Plasma Renin activity(PRA) by LC-MS/MS before and after captopril inhibition test

    Time frame: Two weeks after completing the captopril inhibition test

  3. Aldosterone-renin ratio(ARR)by LC-MS/MS before and after captopril inhibition test

    Time frame: Two weeks after completing the captopril inhibition test

07

Study locations

1 of 1 sites recruiting
08

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

09

Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
ElapsedEstimatedEstimated, not yet reachedSimilar studies: half by the dot; the band is the middle halfHalf of similar studies reached it by the dot; the band is the middle half, from a quarter to three quarters

Started Apr 2025 (actual). Primary completion is estimated for Aug 2026, 15 months after the start.

Of 64 non-industry observational studies under Hyperaldosteronism, half reached primary completion within 75 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 32 and three quarters within 96. This study's planned 15 months is below that.

Counting every sponsor, half of 64 studies reached it within 75 months; a quarter within 32 and three quarters within 96.

How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.

Registered
Jun 3, 2026
First posted
Jul 9, 2026
StartActual
Apr 28, 2025
Primary completionEst.
Aug 1, 2026
CompletionEst.
Aug 1, 2026
Last update
Jul 9, 2026
What these dates mean
Start.
When the first participant enrolled; while estimated, when the study expects to open to recruitment.
Primary completion.
When the last participant was examined or treated to collect data for the study's main question, its primary outcome. A study that stopped early gives the date its data collection stopped.
Completion.
When the last participant's last visit took place, for every outcome, secondary ones and side effects included: the end of the study. Often later than primary completion, sometimes the same day.
Actual and Est.
Actual means the registry says the date has happened. Est. (estimated) is a date the sponsor plans or expects. It can still move, and the sponsor is expected to change it to actual once it has passed.
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Jul 9, 2026, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT07691801
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Jul 9, 2026
Start date
Apr 28, 2025
Primary completion
Aug 1, 2026 (estimated)
Completion
Aug 1, 2026 (estimated)
Last update
Jul 9, 2026

Study contacts

Tong Anli
Contact
tonganli@hotmail.com
+8613460884085

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
Yes
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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