title: Evaluation of urinary metanephrine and normetanephrine enzyme immunoassay (ELISA) kits by comparison with isotope dilution mass spectrometry.
abstract: Determination of urinary 3-O-methylated catecholamines (metanephrines) is generally considered a principal test for the clinical chemical diagnosis of pheochromocytoma and is currently performed predominantly with chromatographic techniques such as gas-liquid chromatography and HPLC. Enzyme immunoassays based on microtiter plate technology have recently been developed for the quantitative determination of urinary metanephrine (M) and normetanephrine (NM). We compared the results for urinary M and NM determined by these ELISA methods with those obtained by a recently developed isotope dilution mass spectrometric method. From this comparative study we can conclude that the investigated ELISA methods are applicable in the quantification of urinary M and thus can be successfully used to establish the diagnosis of pheochromocytoma. These relatively simple methods can be executed in any clinical laboratory and in time may replace the present, more complicated, chromatographic techniques.
authors.affiliation: Central Laboratory for Clinical Chemistry, University Hospital, Groningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: B G
authors.initials: BG
authors.lastname: Wolthers
authors.forename: I P
authors.initials: IP
authors.lastname: Kema
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Volmer
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wesemann
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Westermann
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Manz
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000310:Adrenal Gland Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007201:Indicator Dilution Techniques; D008676:Metanephrine / Q000652:urine*; D009647:Normetanephrine / Q000652:urine*; D010673:Pheochromocytoma / Q000175:diagnosis; D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic; D009647:Normetanephrine; D008676:Metanephrine