Mastocytosis/ Mast Cell Activation Disorders | Glossary | FAQs | Pediatric Patients
Pediatric Patients
Mastocytosis affects children differently than adults, which is why we are develping a section of our web site devoted to this important population. More than half of those diagnosed with Mastocytosis are under the age of two. Another ten percent are diagnosed between the ages of two and 15 years. The last 35 percent are diagnosed in their late teens to adult years.
Younger children diagnosed with Mastocytosis have cutaneous (skin) manifestations of the disease more often than internal manifestations. The cutaneous manifestations include:
- Urticaria pigmentosa (UP)
- Mastocytoma
- Diffuse cutaneous mastocytosis.
Internal manifestations of the disease are those involving bone marrow and the gastrointestinal (digestive) tract.
The increased number of mast cells in the skin of children with cutaneous mastocytosis may release a large amount of mediators (biologically active substances) from mast cells, and this release may cause systemic symptoms such as generalized flushing, abdominal cramping, stomach ache, vomiting, or diarrhea. Such children may require H1-blocking antihistamines and/or H2-blocking antihistamines either from time to time or regularly to control these symptoms.
Approximately half of the children diagnosed with Urticaria Pigmentosa (UP) outgrow the lesions and symptoms by the time they reach adulthood. Children diagnosed in late childhood or adolescence, on the other hand, are more likely to have the disease continue into adulthood. It may or may not then progress to systemic disease.
For further reading on Pediatric Mastocytosis, please reference the links listed below.
Web Sites for Pediatric Mastocytosis
- Mastokids.org — non-profit organization for parents and caregivers of children with Mastocytosis
Research Articles from the Internet
- Systemic Mastocytosis — from eMedicine
- Red-brown skin lesions and pruritus — online full-text article by Drs. Jennifer Clay Caterh and M. Alan Menter that contains photographs of some of the cutaneous forms of mastocytosis.
- Pediatric Mastocytosis — article abstract from PubMED
- Don’t Miss Severe Neonatal Rashes — from American College of Emergency Physicians
- Regulation of Normal and Neoplastic Human Mast Cell Development in Mastocytosis — online full-text article by Dr. Dean D. Metcalfe that discusses pediatric mastocytosis.