Cystic angiomatosis in children: clinical experience and review of literature

BACKGROUND: Cystic angiomatosis is a rare benign disease manifesting as multiple lytic and sclerotic bone lesions, described as the proliferation of vascular and lymphatic channels lined by a single layer of endothelial cells. However, the potential pathogenetic mechanism of the disease still remains unknown. Here, we reported a case of cystic angiomatosis with multifocal bone lesion evaluated by whole exome sequencing. CASE DESCRIPTION: In this presentation, we reported a case of an 11-year-old boy with pain in his chest. Computed tomography (CT) revealed the multiple lytic of the bone in the ribs, clavicle, vertebra thoracalis, skull, mandibula, shoulder blade, etc. The blood test showed ALP to be 393U/L and VEGF to be 287.26 pg/ml. The patient was performed with an open biopsy in the ribs and was diagnosed with cystic angiomatosis. Besides, the whole exome sequencing reported the single-nucleotide substitutions in the coding region of BRIP1, CHEK2, GRM4, and MUC16. Then, the upregulated genes involved CASC15, CENPF, ABCA13, ALK, BLM, and FGFR3. CONCLUSIONS: In this article, we report a rare case of cystic angiomatosis in a child with abnormal VEGF and ALP reported by peripheral blood examination. The whole exome sequencing could provide the reference for the potential molecular mechanism in the diagnosis and treatment of cystic angiomatosis.