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Featured Articles by the TMS Research Team

TMS Grant Launches Mastocytosis Registry at Brigham & Women's Hospital

In the fall of 2002, The Mastocytosis Society (TMS) received a very special gift from the family of Kristin L. Forest. Kristin is a long time member of TMS, and past president. Her parents, Dean and Roberta Smith, had given generously to the organization on several occasions, even asking for donations to TMS in lieu of gifts for their 50th wedding anniversary. Sadly, Dean Smith passed away in 2000 and Roberta Smith in 2001. In a conversation with her daughter, Kristin, Mrs. Smith stated that the couple regretted not being able to turn their full attention to finding a cure for Mastocytosis. In a final act of unparalleled generosity, Mrs. Smith donated the proceeds from the Smith’s 401K retirement account toward that end—a gift totaling $16,100.42. More

What You Should Know About Anesthesia – It Could Save Your Life

Surgery is a stressful experience. For a patient with mast cell disease, that stress is compounded by the possibility of complications including anaphylaxis, cardiovascular collapse, increased bleeding and even death. Therefore, general anesthesia is considered a high-risk procedure in patients with mast cell disease. It is critical that all members of the patient’s operating team take proper precautions before, during, and after surgery to protect against potentially life-threatening mast cell activation. More

Bone Marrow, Mastocytosis & Anaphylaxis

Among people who have mast cell disorders, and physicians who see such patients, the observation is sometimes made that there seems to be a basic difference between those for whom anaphylaxis is a frequent symptom and those for whom anaphylaxis is rare or has not occurred. Drs. Akin and Metcalfe and their National Institutes of Health team have looked at the similarities and differences between these two groups in 30 patients. The above abstract is a brief report of their findings, which we will describe in less technical language. This study may have important implications for patients currently diagnosed with unexplained anaphylaxis, or idiopathic anaphylaxis, as it has been referred to in clinical settings. More

Diagnosis and Classification of Mastocytosis

Research of mast cells and mastocytosis has made impressive progress over the past decade toward understanding what is different about mast cells in patients who have mastocytosis compared with mast cells in people who do not. A group of 23 researchers from Europe and the United States met in Vienna in September, 2000, and, after lengthy discussions, arrived at a consensus as to what criteria will accurately diagnose mastocytosis, and how to classify the various sub-types. Their conclusions are reported in a series of articles in the July, 2001, issue of Leukemia Research. This paper is a short summary of some of their discussions. More

Gleevec & Mastocytosis

Gleevec is a drug recently studied as a potential treatment for systemic mastocytosis. We will attempt to explain how Gleevec works and discuss studies reporting its use in the lab, on mast cells from mastocytosis patients, and in clinical use on patients with hypereosinophilic syndrome. More



This page last updated on March 10, 2005.