Chronic mast cell leukemia: a novel leukemia-variant with distinct morphological and clinical features.
Mast cell leukemia (MCL) is a rare form of systemic mastocytosis characterized by leukemic expansion of mostly immature mast cells, organ damage, drug-resistance, and a poor prognosis. Even when treated with chemotherapy, most patients have a life-expectancy of less than one year. However, there are rare patients with MCL in whom the condition is less aggressive and does not cause organ damage within a short time. In these patients, mast cells exhibit a more mature morphology when compared to acute MCL. A recently proposed classification suggests that these cases are referred to as chronic MCL. In the present article, we discuss clinical, histopathological and morphological aspects of acute and chronic MCL.
['Valent|Peter|P|', 'Sotlar|Karl|K|', 'Sperr|Wolfgang R|WR|', 'Reiter|Andreas|A|', 'Arock|Michel|M|', 'Horny|Hans-Peter|HP|']
D000208:Acute Disease D002908:Chronic Disease D019008:Drug Resistance, Neoplasm D006801:Humans D007946:Leukemia, Mast-Cell
Chronic mast cell leukemia Mast cells Mastocytosis KIT mutation