Pruritus and mast cell proliferation of the skin in end stage renal failure.

We studied the relationships between dermal mast cell proliferation and pruritus or hyperparathyroidism in hemodialysis (HD). Skin biopsies were taken from 59 patients in end stage renal failure; 51 were on maintenance HD, and the other 8 were not. As a control, 34 non-renal failure pruritic patients were used. Thirty-one of the 59 end stage renal failure patients (52.5%) had pruritus. The incidences of pruritus found in patients on HD and those...