Document Detail


Diagnostic and prognostic impact of urinary catecholamines in neuroblastoma patients.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  16732582     Owner:  NLM     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
BACKGROUND: Urinary catecholamine metabolites are well-known to be elevated in patients with neuroblastoma. Some investigators have described different patterns in favorable and unfavorable cases. However, extended studies have not been published. PROCEDURE: We investigated urinary catecholamine patterns and their correlation to stage, biological features, and outcome in 114 consecutively clinically diagnosed neuroblastoma patients. RESULTS: Sensitivity of vanillylmandelic acid (VMA), homovanillic acid (HVA), and dopamine (DA) was 80.7, 71.9, and 61.3%, respectively. In 91.2% of patients at least one parameter was above normal. High VMA levels were associated with favorable biological features, high DA levels were predominantly found in biologically unfavorable disease. Whereas patients with normal HVA levels had a significant better outcome, the other parameters showed no significant association with prognosis. For disseminated neuroblastoma of infancy, DA/VMA ratio proved to be helpful for the discrimination of stage 4 versus stage 4s. CONCLUSION: Urinary catecholamines appear to be useful to give a first but important hint about the biological behavior and thus the prognosis of the underlying disease. Particularly DA/VMA ratio may serve as a tool for "biological grading"-especially in disseminated disease of infancy. In addition, it may be speculated that HVA negativity and low DA/VMA ratio may be helpful for the decision of a "wait and see" strategy in selected neuroblastoma patients with localized disease.
Authors:
Volker Strenger; Reinhold Kerbl; Hans Jürgen Dornbusch; Ruth Ladenstein; Peter F Ambros; Inge M Ambros; Christian Urban
Publication Detail:
Type:  Journal Article    
Journal Detail:
Title:  Pediatric blood & cancer     Volume:  48     ISSN:  1545-5009     ISO Abbreviation:  Pediatr Blood Cancer     Publication Date:  2007 May 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2007-03-08     Completed Date:  2007-05-11     Revised Date:  2009-01-12    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  101186624     Medline TA:  Pediatr Blood Cancer     Country:  United States    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  504-9     Citation Subset:  IM    
Affiliation:
Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria. volker.strenger@meduni-graz.at
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MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Adolescent
Catecholamines / urine*
Child
Child, Preschool
Dopamine / urine
Female
Homovanillic Acid / urine
Humans
Infant
Infant, Newborn
Male
Neuroblastoma / diagnosis*,  mortality,  urine
Prognosis
Sensitivity and Specificity
Vanilmandelic Acid / urine
Chemical
Reg. No./Substance:
0/Catecholamines; 306-08-1/Homovanillic Acid; 55-10-7/Vanilmandelic Acid
Comments/Corrections
Comment In:
Pediatr Blood Cancer. 2007 May;48(5):593; author reply 593-4   [PMID:  16937359 ]

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine


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