A NEAR-HAPLOID BONE-MARROW KARYOTYPE IN SYSTEMIC MAST-CELL DISEASE - IS IT CHARACTERISTIC OF THE DISEASE OR AN INCIDENTAL FINDING

We present the case of a 40-year-old man with aggressive systemic mast cell disease. The patient had a predominant near-haploid clone in his bone marrow cells, detected by cytogenetic analysis performed at the time of diagnosis. The similarities between this case and a previously published case of near-haploidy in a patient with malignant mastocyto sis suggest that near-haploidy may be a characteristic of aggressive s ystemic mast cell disease rather than an incidental finding. (C) Elsev ier Science Inc., 1998.