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Geisinger Medical Laboratories Test Catalog
HOMOVANILLIC ACID (HVA), RANDOM URINE |
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Geisinger Epic Procedure Code: LAB2502
Geisinger Epic ID: 47278
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SPECIMEN COLLECTION |
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Specimen type: |
Random urine | |
Preferred collection container: |
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Specimen required: |
10 mL random urine (minimum 5 mL). | |
Special notes: |
This test needs immediate acidification and can only be collected at Hospital sites. | |
Patient preparation: |
Patient should avoid alcohol, coffee, tea, tobacco, and strenuous exercise before collection. It is preferable for the patient to be off medications for three days before collection. However, common antihypertensives (diuretics, ACE inhibitors, calcium channel blockers, alpha and beta blockers) cause minimal or no interference. | |
| SPECIMEN PROCESSING |
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Specimen processing instructions: |
Lab personnel (to be determined per site) will test the pH of the urines and adjust to less than 3.0 using 6N HCl before Referred Testing ships the specimen. | |
Transport temperature: |
Refrigerated. | |
Specimen stability: |
Room temperature: 7 days. Refrigerated: 7 days. Frozen: 28 days. | |
Rejection criteria: |
Received frozen. Received with a pH of >3.0. | |
TEST DETAILS |
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CPT code(s): |
82570, 83150 | |
| Note: The billing party has sole responsibility for CPT coding. Any questions regarding coding should be directed to the payer being billed. The CPT codes provided by GML are based on AMA guidelines and are for informational purposes only. | ||
Methodology: |
High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) Electrochemical detection |
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Synonyms: |
Quest test code 6346x, Homovanillic Acid HVARU
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Clinical significance: |
This analyte is valuable in the identification of patients with neuroblastoma. 80% of neuroblastoma patients will have elevated urinary homovanillic acid (HVA) and or vanillylmandelic acid (VMA). | |