Inclusion of study participants
Forty-nine adult mastocytosis patients who were diagnosed according to recent diagnosis and classification criteria(1) and were followed at outpatient clinics of adult immunology and allergic diseases and adult hematology divisions of our faculty were included in the study . Accordingly, patients were grouped as follows; Group-1: “Cutaneous Mastocytosis (CM)”, Group-2: “Indolent Systemic Mastocytosis (ISM)” and Group-3: “Advanced Systemic Mastocytosis (AdvSM) and Smoldering Systemic Mastocytosis (SSM)”. Aggressive SM (ASM) and systemic mastocytosis (SM) with an associated hematologic neoplasm (SM-AHN) were considered within the advSM group(1). Age, sex, body mass index and smoking habits matched 25 healthy control (HCs) were also enrolled. Individuals with a history of diabetes, hypertension, cancer, hyperlipidemia, auto-inflammatory diseases, venous thromboembolism, atherosclerotic diseases that can contribute to the development of endothelial dysfunction and/or atherosclerosis were excluded. None of the study participants were under ascorbic acid, corticosteroids, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or estrogen therapy which can affect FMD results.
This study was approved by the local institution’s ethics committee (Approval Number:1293) in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and written approval was received from all study participants .