Mast cell sarcoma is an extremely aggressive form of
sarcoma
A sarcoma is a malignant tumor, a type of cancer that arises from transformed cells of mesenchymal (connective tissue) origin. Connective tissue is a broad term that includes bone, cartilage, fat, vascular, or hematopoietic tissues, and sarcom ...
made up of neoplastic
mast cell
A mast cell (also known as a mastocyte or a labrocyte) is a resident cell of connective tissue that contains many granules rich in histamine and heparin. Specifically, it is a type of granulocyte derived from the myeloid stem cell that is a par ...
s. A sarcoma is a tumor made of cells from connective tissue. Mast cell sarcoma is an extremely rare tumor. Only three cases have been are reported so far. Prognosis is extremely poor. People with a mast cell sarcoma have no skin lesions, and pathology examination of the tumor shows it to be very malignant with an aggressive growth pattern. Mast cell sarcoma should not be confused with
extracutaneous mastocytoma, a rare benign mast cell tumor without destructive growth. In the cases observed, mast cell sarcoma terminated quickly as
mast cell leukemia
Mast cell leukemia is an extremely aggressive subtype of acute myeloid leukemia that usually occurs ''de novo'' but can, rarely, evolve from transformation of chronic myeloid leukemia into the more aggressive acute myeloid leukemia. In a small prop ...
; one of the most aggressive human cancers.
See also
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Mastocytosis
Mastocytosis, a type of mast cell disease, is a rare disorder affecting both children and adults caused by the accumulation of functionally defective mast cells (also called ''mastocytes'') and CD34+ mast cell precursors.
People affected by masto ...
References
External links
Dermal and subcutaneous growths
Sarcoma
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