Characteristics, Natural Course and Treatment of Intramuscular Capillary-type Haemangioma: A Systematic Literature Review

Pediatric intramuscular hemangioma in the submandibular triangle and other musculoskeletal presentations: A pediatric case series

BACKGROUND

Intramuscular hemangiomas (IMH) account for 0.8 % or less of all benign soft tissue tumors in the general population. Due to their uncommon nature, especially in the head and neck, they are often misdiagnosed and not included in the differential diagnosis.

METHODS

This study describes a case series of eleven pediatric patients with a diagnosis of IMH through a retrospective review of the electronic health records and archival records in the Department of Pathology at Children's Hospital of Colorado (CHCO).

RESULTS

The index case had a unique presentation in the submandibular triangle, while the remaining ten cases are appendicular and thoracolumbar in nature.

CONCLUSIONS

This case series contributes to the sparse scientific literature available regarding IMH, particularly in its head and neck presentation as relevant to otolaryngologists.

Summary of the application value of ultrasound imaging features in the clinical differential diagnosis of intramuscular capillary-type hemangioma and fibro-adipose vascular anomaly

Objective

To investigate the value of ultrasonography as a diagnostic aid in differentiating intramuscular capillary-type hemangioma (ICTH) from fibro-adipose vascular anomaly (FAVA).

Methods

A retrospective analysis was conducted of the clinical and ultrasound imaging data of 20 patients with ICTH and 45 patients with FAVA who were admitted to and pathologically confirmed in hospital between January 2013 and April 2023. The clinical and ultrasonographic appearances of the lesions in the two groups were compared and analyzed. A stepwise regression analysis was performed, and a joint diagnostic equation was constructed using the final variables selected. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and indicators, including sensitivity and specificity, were used to evaluate the efficacy of the joint diagnostic model.

Results

The two groups of patients suffering from ICTH and FAVA presented a statistically significant difference (P< 0.05) in terms of 'age', 'lesion size', 'fascial tail sign', 'presence of a fatty-tissue-like hyperecho around the lesion', 'blood flow' and 'presence of straight blood capillaries within the lesion'. Finally, the variables 'fascial tail sign' and 'presence of straight blood capillaries within the lesion' were selected to construct the model. The constructed joint diagnostic model had a sensitivity value of 70.0% (95% CI: 59.00-81.00), a specificity value of 98.0% (95% CI: 94.70-100.00) and a ROC curve value of 0.908, indicating the high efficacy of the combined diagnosis method.

Conclusions

Ultrasonography can be utilized to differentiate ICTH from FAVA, and the combined diagnosis method can further improve the technique's diagnostic efficacy.