Treatment of patients with evidence of mast cell-mediated itch in the absence of hives with omalizumab

Abstract

Purpose The presence of wheals or hives has been viewed as a hallmark symptom of urticaria, a highly debilitating disease. This study explores our experience with omalizumab in patients with apparent mast-cell mediated pruritus in the absence of hives.Materials and Methods This is a retrospective case series examining all patients with mast cell-mediated pruritus in the absence of hives from April 2022 to May 2024 at a tertiary referral clinic at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York. Peak pruritus-numerical rating scale (PP-NRS) itch score changes over time were recorded and analyzed.Results Six patients (67% women; mean [SD] age, 47.67 [13.52] years) were included in the analysis. The median [IQR] pruritus PP-NRS itch score before omalizumab injection was 9 [6 – 10] and the final median [IQR] PP-NRS itch score was 2.5 [0 – 5]. The mean [SD] reduction in the PP-NRS itch score was 6 [3.16].Conclusions This study suggests that patients with evidence of mast cell-mediated pruritus can be identified based on clinical features and may benefit from omalizumab therapy.

Keywords

• Itch
• pruritus
• mast cell
• omalizumab
• urticaria
• hive