Hollister L E
Int Pharmacopsychiatry. 1981;16(3):138-43. doi: 10.1159/000468488.
Measurement of urinary excretion of 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylglycol (MHPG) is being tested in a number of psychiatric problems, most notably affective disorders. These measurements have certain problems. First, the collection of 24-hour urine specimens continues to be somewhat difficult, and no suitable solution has been found for using collections that might be incomplete. Second, the range of excretion of MHPG is rather similar in normal persons, depressed patients, and geriatric patients. One can think of no situation in all of medicine where diagnostic or prognostic distinctions can be made on the basis of variations within the normal limits of a laboratory test. Third, the variability of MHPG excretion may be high in some patients, even over the short term, clouding the significance of mean values of repeated determinations.
对3-甲氧基-4-羟基苯乙二醇（MHPG）尿排泄量的测定正在多种精神疾病中进行测试，最显著的是情感障碍。这些测量存在一些问题。首先，收集24小时尿液样本仍然有些困难，并且尚未找到适用于可能不完整样本收集的解决方案。其次，正常人群、抑郁症患者和老年患者中MHPG的排泄范围相当相似。在整个医学领域中，人们想不出有哪种情况可以根据实验室检查正常范围内的变化来进行诊断或预后区分。第三，某些患者中MHPG排泄的变异性可能很高，即使在短期内也是如此，这使得重复测定的平均值的意义变得模糊不清。
