Patient Preparation:
(1) Patient should abstain from the following at least 2 days prior to and during urine specimen collection:
(a) intake of food like coffee, tea and nicotine (tobacco) which may increase endogenous catecholamine production
(b) where medically possible, drugs such as alpha-methyldopa (AldometTM), Ispoproterenol, Labetalol, mandelamine, metoclopramide, acetaminophen, cimetidine which may potentially interfere with the testing
(c) where medically possible, drugs such as tricyclic antidepressants (e.g Amitriptyline), α-blockers (Nonselective) (e.g Phenoxybenzamine), α-blockers (α1 - selective) (e.g Doxazosin), β-blockers (e.g Atenolol) , Calcium Channel Antagonists (e.g Nifedipine), Vasodilators (e.g Hydralazine), Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitor (e.g Phenelzine), Sympathomimetics (e.g Ephedrine) , Stimulants (e.g Theophylline), Levodopa, Carbidopa (Sinemet) and Cocaine which may induced increase or decrease in the catecholamine production.
(2) If the patient cannot be completely removed from a drug regime, test result should be interpreted with appropriate clinical judgement based on expected physiology response to these drugs.
