Childhood mastocytosis: results of a single center.

ABSTRACT

AIM: We aimed to retrospectively evaluate histopathological, demographic and clinical findings of children with mastocytosis diagnosed with mastocytosis in our clinic. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The files of 21 patients diagnosed with mastocytosis between 2000 and 2014 in our clinic were retrospectively analyzed. RESULTS: All patients had cutaneous mastocytosis, 19 patients had urticaria pigmentosa and 2 patients had mastocytoma. The male-female ratio was 1/1.6. The median age for onset of disease was 12.1 months and the disease occured in the newborn period in 3 patients. While all patients had eruption, 10 patients had pruritis, 1 patient had a bullous formation, 1 patient had abdominal pain and 1 patient had attacks of redness throughout the body and a sense of burning in the chest. Two patients had a positive familial history. The diagnosis was confirmed with skin biopsy in all patients. The median follow up time of the patients were 5 years. The patients were treated with H1, H2 antihistaminics, local moisturizing creams and topical corticosteroid drugs. The lesions resolved completely in 4 patients who reached to puberty and 7 patients had marked improvement in a 5.5 year-follow-up period. Ten patients had stabile lesions in a 3.6 year-follow-up period. CONCLUSIONS: Most cases of childhood mastocytosis are observed in the form of cutaneous mastocytosis. The prognosis is good; the disease limits itself and is prone to regress in the adolescent period.