Vascular tumours in infants. Part I: benign vascular tumours other than infantile haemangioma.

Abstract

Vascular anomalies can be subdivided into vascular tumours and vascular malformations (VMs). While most VMs are present at birth and do not exhibit significant postnatal growth, vascular tumours are characterized by their dynamics of growth and (sometimes) spontaneous regression. This review focuses on benign vascular tumours other than infantile haemangiomas (IHs), namely pyogenic granuloma, eruptive pseudoangiomatosis, glomangioma, rapidly involuting and noninvoluting congenital haemangioma, verrucous haemangioma and spindle cell haemangioma. While some of them bear clinical resemblance to IH, they can be separated by age of appearance, growth characteristics and/or negative staining for glucose transporter 1. Separation of these tumours from IH is necessary because their outcome and therapeutic options are different. Semimalignant and malignant vascular tumours will be addressed in a separate review.