Abstract
We present a quantitative gas-chromatographic method for determining urinary 3-methoxy-4-hydroxymandelic acid (vanillylmandelic acid) and 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylacetic acid (homovanillic acid). In this rapid technique an internal standard is used and the procedure involves ether extraction and silyl ether formation. Analytical recovery of vanillylmandelic acid averages 87.5% (CV, 0.95%), of homovanillic acid 102.3% (CV, 9.95%). Our data on 34 samples from 13 neuroblastoma patients show that homovanillic acid is more consistently elevated than is vanillylmandelic acid.

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