Abstract
Fluctuations in the amount of vanillylmandelic acid (VMA) and homovanillic acid (HVA) were studied in random urine samples from 13 infants with neuroblastoma. In patients with a small tumour, many samples contained amounts below the cut off values, suggesting that detection of a patient with neuroblastoma depended on mathematical probability. Using high performance liquid chromatography a patient with a tumour of about 10 g may well be overlooked, whereas a patient whose tumour weighs over 30 g would probably be detected. With qualitative screening, although more likely to miss a patient with low VMA excretion, a patient with a tumour weighing over 50 g would be detected. In a thorough hospital examination care should be exercised in interpreting borderline values of VMA and HVA; excretion information suggesting the existence of a tumour may aid localization by radiological imaging procedures.
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Abbreviations
- HPLC:
-
high performance liquid chromatography
- HVA:
-
homovanillic acid
- VMA:
-
vanillylmandelic acid
References
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Nishi, M., Miyake, H., Takeda, T. et al. Fluctuation in the concentrations of vanillylmandelic acid and homovanillic acid in mass screening for neuroblastoma. Eur J Pediatr 149, 859–861 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02072074
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02072074