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In medicine, the captopril challenge test, also CCT, is a non-invasive test used to help diagnose renal artery stenosis.
The CCT, in adults, has a high sensitivity, but a low specificity.Bales A. Hypertensive crisis. How to tell if it's an emergency or an urgency. Postgrad Med. 1999 May 1;105(5):119-26, 130. PMID 10335324. Free Full Text. A better test for diagnosing renal artery stenosis is subtraction renal angiography.Svetkey LP, Himmelstein SI, Dunnick NR, Wilkinson RH Jr, Bollinger RR, McCann RL, Beytas EM, Klotman PE. Prospective analysis of strategies for diagnosing renovascular hypertension. Hypertension. 1989 Sep;14(3):247-57. PMID 2670763.
How it is done
The CCT is performed by measuring the renin prior to and following the administration of captopril, an angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor. A CCT is considered positive if the renin levels increase substaintially or the baseline renin level is abnormally high.Muller FB, Sealey JE, Case DB, Atlas SA, Pickering TG, Pecker MS, Preibisz JJ, Laragh JH. The captopril test for identifying renovascular disease in hypertensive patients. Am J Med. 1986 Apr;80(4):633-44. PMID 3515933.
Use of the CCT in children
The CCT has not been found to be very useful in children.Gauthier B, Trachtman H, Frank R, Pillari G. Inadequacy of captopril challenge test for diagnosing renovascular hypertension in children and adolescents. Pediatr Nephrol. 1991 Jan;5(1):42-4. PMID 2025535.
References
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