title: Gastrointestinal involvement in systemic mastocytosis.
abstract: Four consecutive patients with systemic mastocytosis were studied. One patient had a malabsorption syndrome with only minor histological changes of the intestinal mucosa. Another patient with ulcer diathesis had a gastric secretory pattern resembling Zollinger-Ellison syndrome. Serum gastrin and histamine levels were consistently normal in all patients. Endoscopy of stomach and colon disclosed urticaria-like papulae either spontaneously or after topical provocation in all patients. No increase of mast cells was found in multiple mucosal biopsies. A markedly increased gastric tissue content of histamine was found, however, in the three patients studied. The findings suggest that urticaria-like lesions associated with a high tissue content of histamine may be more important that hyperhistaminaemia in causing the various gastrointestinal symptoms.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002452:Cell Count; D003106:Colon / Q000473:pathology; D005750:Gastric Juice / Q000378:metabolism; D005753:Gastric Mucosa / Q000032:analysis / Q000473:pathology; D005755:Gastrins / Q000097:blood; D005767:Gastrointestinal Diseases / Q000209:etiology*; D006632:Histamine / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D008286:Malabsorption Syndromes / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008407:Mast Cells; D008875:Middle Aged; D013276:Stomach Ulcer / Q000209:etiology; D014581:Urticaria / Q000209:etiology; D014582:Urticaria Pigmentosa / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D005755:Gastrins; D006632:Histamine