Determination of urinary vanillylmandelic acid and homovanillic acid by high performance liquid chromatography for mass screening of neuroblastoma.

In order to develop a mass screening method for the early detection of neuroblastoma, we measured urinary vanillylmandelic acid (VMA) and homovanillic acid (HVA) by a high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) equipped with an electrochemical detector. Urinary samples were collected on a piece of filter paper and then pre-treated by a simple method. Measurement of VMA and HVA was performed within a short period of time, and by about 80 samples per a day could be analyzed by automatic system. The method described herein proved to be reliable, and we thus recommend it as a useful method for measurement of both VMA and HVA, leading to more accurate detection of neuroblastoma in mass screening test.