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The MastAttack 107: The Layperson’s Guide to Understanding Mast Cell Diseases, Part 14

I have answered the 107 questions I have been asked most in the last four years. No jargon. No terminology. Just answers.

22. Is MCAS an early form of SM?

MCAS is not viewed as an early form of SM but the diagnosis of MCAS may precede a later diagnosis of SM.
• In the last few years, we have learned a lot about the genetics associated with mast cell diseases and how it occurs in families. As a result, we are beginning to understand that mast cell diseases occur more along a spectrum than as distinct categories. This means that there is a lot of overlap between conditions.
• While it is certainly not a new disorder, MCAS is a pretty recent diagnostic entity. The last decade has seen a large increase in diagnosis as it has been more frequently described. Because of how new it is, and also the fact that there aren’t uniform criteria for what MCAS is, there will be a level of uncertainty about how this disease tends to progress for some time.
• That uncertainty aside, we know that at least some patients with a long history of MCAS have continued to have symptoms without developing markers of systemic mastocytosis.
• However, some patients with history of MCAS do develop markers of systemic mastocytosis.
• Many patients do not receive bone marrow biopsies when they are diagnosed with MCAS because there is not always a reason to have one. It often doesn’t affect treatment. If there is no sign of organ damage, the patient has a negative blood test for the CKIT D816V mutation, and their baseline tryptase is below 20 ng/mL, most doctors do not order a bone marrow biopsy. This means that some patients who are diagnosed with MCAS may have had SM all along but it wasn’t found until a biopsy was performed later.
• In 2007, monoclonal mast cell activation syndrome was described in scientific literature. This condition is diagnosed when a patient meets some criteria of systemic mastocytosis but not enough for a diagnosis of SM.
Monoclonal mast cell activation syndrome is more often viewed as a “pre-SM”. I personally view it this way. Before it had a name, researchers called it “pre-diagnostic SM.” Literally, SM before they could diagnose it as SM.

For more detailed reading, please visit these posts:

The Provider Primer Series: Mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS)

The Provider Primer Series: Diagnosis and natural history of systemic mastocytosis (ISM, SSM, ASM)

The Provider Primer Series: Diagnosis and natural history of systemic mastocytosis (SM-AHD, MCL, MCS)