Establishment of a paediatric age-related reference interval for the measurement of urinary total fractionated metanephrines:

IntroductionNormetanephrine and metanephrine are intermediate metabolites of noradrenaline and adrenaline metabolism. To assess whether normetanephrine and metanephrine analysis may aid in the diagnosis of Neuroblastoma, a reference interval for these metabolites must first be established.AimThe overall aim of this study was to establish a paediatric age-related reference interval for the measurement of total fractionated metanephrines.MethodsA total of 267 urine samples were analysed following acid hydrolysis. This releases the metanephrines from their sulphate-bound metabolites. The samples were analysed using reverse phase high-performance liquid chromatography with electro-chemical detection on a Gilson automated sequential trace enrichment of dialysate sample system.ResultsData were analysed using Minitab Release version 14. Outliers were removed using the Dixon/Reed one-third rule. Partitioning of the age groups was achieved using Harris and Boyd's standard normal deviate test. Non-parametric analys...