Clinical Characteristics and Treatment Options of Infantile Vascular Anomalies

To analyze the clinical characteristics and treatment outcomes of vascular anomalies, and determine which therapy is safe and effective. The data of vascular anomalies pediatric patients who arrived at Beijing children's Hospital from January 2001 to December 2014 were analyzed retrospectively, including the influence of gender, age, clinical manifestation, diagnosis, treatment options, and outcomes. As to infantile hemangiomas, the outcomes of different treatments and their adverse reactions were compared. As to spider angioma and cutaneous capillary malformation, the treatment effect of 595 nm pulsed dye laser (PDL) is analyzed. A total number of 6459 cases of vascular anomalies were reclassified according to the 2014 ISSVA classification system. Among them, the gender ratio is 1:1.69, head-and-neck involved is 53.3%, the onset age within the first month is 72.4%, the age of initial encounter that younger than 6 months is 60.1%. The most common anomalies were infantile hemangiomas (42.6%), congenital hemangiomas (14.1%), and capillary malformations (29.9%). In treating infantile hemangiomas, laser shows the lowest adverse reactions rate significantly. Propranolol shows a higher improvement rate than laser, glucocorticoids, glucocorticoids plus laser, and shows no significant difference with propranolol plus laser both in improvement rate and adverse reactions rate. The total improvement rate of 595 nm PDL is 89.8% in treating spider angioma and 46.7% in treating cutaneous capillary malformation. The improvement rate and excellent rate of laser in treating cutaneous capillary malformation are growing synchronously by increasing the treatment times, and shows no significant difference among different parts of lesion that located in a body. Vascular anomalies possess a female predominance, and are mostly occurred in faces. Definite diagnosis is very important before treatment. In treating infantile hemangioma, propranolol is recommended as the first-line agent, and systemic use glucocorticoids should be considered when associated with serious complications. The 595 nm PDL is effective in managing superficial vascular malformations in childhood, and could attempt to increase the treatment times to improve the outcomes.