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Electron microscopic findings in a case of systemic mastocytosis

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Abstract

For several decades urticaria pigmentosa had been considered to be a benign and purely cutaneous disease, caused by infiltrations of tissue mast cells in the skin. Yet until 1962 at least 24 cases of systemic mastocytosis had been published. Sagher estimated the incidence of systemic mastocytosis as being in the region of about 10% of all cases of urticaria pigmentosa. A case of systemic mastocytosis in a 4-year-old child is described. Biopsy specimens were examined by electron microscopy to study the process of degranalation of tissue mast cells during which histamine and heparin are released.

Zusammenfassung

Jahrzehntelang war die Urticaria pigmentosa als eine gutartige, auf die Haut begrenzte Erkrankung, verursacht durch Infiltrationen von Gewebsmastzellen, angesehen worden. Bis 1962 waren jedoch schon mindestens 24 Fälle von generalisierter Mastocytose publiziert worden. Sagher schätzte die Häufigkeit von generalisierter Mastocytose auf etwa 10% aller Fälle von Urticaria pigmentosa. Eine generalisierte Mastocytose bei einem vierjährigen Mädchen wird beschrieben. Das Biopsiematerial wurde elektronenoptisch untersucht, um den Prozeß der Degranulation von Gewebsmastzellen, bei dem Histamin und Heparin freigesetzt werden, zu verfolgen.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Children's Hospital Mannheim, Mannheim, Deutschland

    O. Sauer & H. Nemetschek

  2. Department of Pathology, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Deutschland

    O. Sauer & H. Nemetschek

  3. Universitäts-Kinderklinik, Theodor Kutzer-Ufer, D-6800, Mannheim, Federal Republic of Germany

    O. Sauer

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  1. O. Sauer
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  2. H. Nemetschek
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Sauer, O., Nemetschek, H. Electron microscopic findings in a case of systemic mastocytosis. Z. Kinder-Heilk. 119, 59–69 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00464697

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