Abstract
Background: Measuring urinary fractionated metanephrines is one of the initial tests in the diagnosis of pheochromocytoma. Liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) represents the most specific and accurate technology for this purpose. The goal of this work was to develop a simple LC-MS/MS method for measuring metanephrines in urine.
Methods: Each urine sample was complexed with diphenylboronic acid, and purified on a Bond-Elute Plexa cartridge. The extract was concentrated and analyzed on a short Atlantis T3 column in 8.5 min. Metanephrines and their deuterated internal standards were monitored in positive electrospray ionization mode by multiple reaction monitoring.
Results: Ion suppression was observed, but was compensated for by the respective internal standard. The analytical measurement range was 0.2–27.4 μmol/L and 0.3–14.6 μmol/L for metanephrine and normetanephrine, respectively. The intra-assay and total coefficient of variation throughout the linear ranges was 2.03%–2.11% and 2.20%–3.80% for metanephrine, and 4.50%–8.09% and 9.00%–10.00% for normetanephrine, respectively. Comparison with a commercial HPLC method using patient samples (n=65) by Passing-Bablok regression showed a slope of 1.000 and 1.014, y-intercept of –0.080 and –0.067, a correlation coefficient of 0.8830 and 0.9022, and a mean difference of 14.0% and –0.43% for metanephrine and normetanephrine, respectively.
Conclusions: This simple method for urine metanephrines is suitable for clinical use.
©2011 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin Boston
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- Opinion Paper
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- General Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine
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