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Medical Definition of Homovanillic acid test
1. A test for homovanillic acid based upon the fact that dopamine is present in sympathetic nervous tissue as precursor of norepinephrine; since norepinephrine has a metabolic pathway which yields homovanillic acid, tumours such as neuroblastomas and ganglioneuromas may cause elevations of urinary dopamine and homovanillic acid. Synonym: HVA test. (05 Mar 2000)