Mastocytosis in childhood

PubMed, the Internet portal of biomedical and life sciences literature, indexed an interesting article, entitled “Mastocytosis in childhood.” (Przegl Lek. 2006;63(7):551-3). Authors are Renke J and Lange M, from the Klinika Pediatrii, Gastroenterologii i Onkologii, Dzieciecej Akademii Medycznej w Gdansku. Mastocytosis is a rare multi-symptomatic disorder with overproduction and accumulation of mast cells in different tissues. Mast cells accumulate most often in skin, rarely in bone marrow, lymph nodes, liver and spleen. Symptoms of the disease may be due either to releasing of mediators that are present in mast cells or to affection of organs. Although mastocytosis is regarded as a rare disease in the population, among patients of dermatologists it is much more common. It concerns 5,4 caser per 1000 of cured children. To access the full abstract of the article, click here.