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Hemangioma is a benign tumor that consists of blood vessels. Despite its benign character hemangioma has traits of malignant clinical course. Even punctate and small vascular tumors of new-born children can grow heavily, often reaching large sizes.
Its course is unpredictable despite the possibility of self-recovery.
Usually hemangioma is congenital and is caused by prenatal disturbance of vessels forming. Hemangioma can quickly grow and destroy the adjacent tissues. It happens most often in the early childhood.
Hemangiomas can be simple (those that are situated on the skin surface), cavernous (those that are situated under the skin), combined (those that consist of cutaneous and subcutaneous parts) and mixed (those that consist of hemangioma itself and other tissues, muscular or neural). Simple hemangiomas constitute 70-80 % of cases.
The reason of hemangioma forming is not completely known at present. It is believed that it can be caused by acute respiratory diseases of a pregnant woman during first 3-6 weeks of pregnancy, when fetus’ vascular system is formed.
Simple hemangioma has red or purple color, is situated on skin surface, is distinctly separated, affects skin and several millimeters of subcutaneous fatty tissue, and usually grows sideways. Hemangioma surface is smooth or, more rarely, uneven; sometimes it slightly protrudes above the skin. When pressed, the tumor turns pale, but then again restores its color.
Cavernous hemangioma is situated under the skin as a separated node. It looks as tumor-like mass covered by unchanged or cyanotic skin. When pressed, the tumor deflates and turns pale because of the blood outflow.
Combined hemangioma is a combination of surface and subcutaneous hemangiomas (simple and cavernous).
Mixed hemangioma consists of tumor cells that come from vessels and other tissues. Appearance, color and consistence depend on the tissues that are parts of the vascular tumor.
Some hemangiomas are characterized by the ability of frequent pitting and self-recovery.
Usually surgical treatment is not necessary. If hemangioma size is stable there are no reasons to worry. Surgical treatment is indicated to small number of patients, for example, on hemangioma growth or squeeze of vessels and bile ducts. Drug treatment is not indicated. As for all benign neoplasms, physiotherapy and prolonged stay in the sun are contraindicated.
Efficiency of treatment of simple hemangiomas is 99.9 %, complex ones – 98.6%. The purpose of treatment is to eliminate neoplastic process and achieve the best functional and cosmetic result. While in case of malignant tumor cosmetic issues are not too important to the baby’s parents, in case of hemangioma they are of primary importance, especially if a child is a girl. By the way, girls are 2-3 times more prone to hemangioma than boys. Goals of hemangioma treatment can be briefly formulated as “from health to beauty”. Properly chosen method and treatment conducted in time will make your child not only healthy, but also beautiful. |
