title: Improved diagnosis of mastocytosis by measurement of urinary histamine metabolites.
abstract: In an attempt to facilitate the diagnosis of mastocytosis, we measured the urinary excretion of histamine and two of its main metabolites (N tau-methylhistamine and N tau-methylimidazoleacetic acid) in eight adults with this disorder. All patients had above-normal values for the metabolites of histamine, whereas only three had above-normal values for histamine. In both 24-hour and randomly voided urine specimens, the determination of histamine metabolites is more specific and sensitive for the diagnosis of mastocytosis than the determination of histamine itself.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006632:Histamine / Q000652:urine; D006801:Humans; D007093:Imidazoles / Q000652:urine*; D008297:Male; D008761:Methylhistamines / Q000652:urine*; D008875:Middle Aged; D014582:Urticaria Pigmentosa / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000652:urine
chemical_list: D007093:Imidazoles; D008761:Methylhistamines; C002667:methylimidazoleacetic acid; D006632:Histamine