[Dermal mast cells density examination as an aspect of mechanical injuries vitality diagnostics].

Objective: To examine the changes in dermal mast cells density in the mechanically injured skin and to evaluate the applicability of dermal mast cells density increase as an injuries vitality diagnostic criteria (serial examination, statistically processed results).

Material and methods: 240 skin autopsy samples with mechanical injuries from 40 persons were divided to 3 groups (80 in each group): vital injuries, postmortal injuries, control non-injured samples. A routine histological examination using standard H&E stain and IHC with mast cells tryptase antibodies was performed consequented with histological slides full-format scanning and computer processing.

Results and conclusion: An increase in the density of dermal mast cells relative to control samples was found in 80% of samples with vital injuries and in 50% with postmortem ones. Statistically significant differences in mast cell density were revealed between samples of all 3 groups, but they cannot be used as a reliable vitality diagnostic method.