1 - Scheme Overview

This EQA scheme is intended for laboratories carrying out the determination of catecholamines, methoxyl derivatives and serotonin in the blood.

Participating labs can choose to be assessed for all the analytes of this scheme, or simply a subset of analytes of interest.

2 - Assessment Frequency

Number of surveys per year: 4
Number of control samples per survey: 1 or 2
Number of samples per year: 6

CAUTION: a sample allows to control the Catecholamines (adrenaline, noradrenaline, serotonin and dopamine) and another sample allows to control the methoxylated derivatives (metanephrine, Normetanephrine and 3-methoxytyramine).

3 - List of Analytes Assessed 

• 5-Hydroxyindoleacetic acid (HIAA)
• Adrenaline
• Noradrenaline
• Dopamine
• Serotonin
• Total metanephrine
• Total normetanephrine
• Total 3-methoxytyramine
• Free metanephrine
• Free normetanephrine
• Free 3-methoxytyramine

4 - Description of the Control Samples

Lyophilized human control plasma and serum (samples to be resuspended in 3 or 5 mL of distilled water).