Doctors don't know what causes a hemangioma. It may be related to changing oxygen levels that happen while the baby is developing in the womb. Hemangiomas are more common in babies born prematurely (before their due date), at a low birth weight, or as part of a multiple birth (twins, triplets, etc.).
A hemangioma (hee man jee OH mah) is a common vascular birthmark, made of extra blood vessels in the skin. It is a benign (non-cancerous) growth. The exact cause is not known. Hemangiomas are typically not inherited, but others in the family may also have had them.
Incidence has increased steadily over the past three decades, correlating significantly with decreasing gestational age at birth and birth weight in affected infants.
Infantile hemangiomas are the most common type of hemangioma and usually appear during the first few weeks of life. They will generally grow during the first year of life, then shrink slowly over the next several years.
About 4 to 5% of infants have an infantile hemangioma, and some babies are born with more than one. Their specific cause is unknown, but they tend to be more common in girls, in premature babies, and in twins and triplets.
The most common birth defect, affecting about 2% of all newborns, hemangiomas are benign, blood vessel tumors that can appear anywhere on a child's body, at or shortly after birth, occurring more often in females than males.
Hemangiomas occur more often in babies who are female, white or born prematurely. Babies with a low birth weight also are more likely to have a hemangioma.
Most infantile hemangiomas (IHs) do not need treatment and will go away on their own. Your child's health care professional may check the IH over time to make sure it is shrinking and is not causing any problems. If the IH needs treatment, your child's health care professional will probably first suggest a medicine.
Most hemangiomas will not need treatment. However, your doctor or dermatologist should monitor them. Large and risky hemangiomas that affect eyesight, breathing, or are at high risk of bleeding may need help.
In most cases, they stop growing and begin to shrink by the baby's first birthday. It will begin to flatten and appear less red. This phase, called involution, continues from late infancy to early childhood. Most of the shrinking for an infantile hemangioma happens by the time a child is 3 1/2 to 4 years old.
Propranolol, a beta blocker medication used for many years to treat high blood pressure, is now commonly given by mouth as an effective treatment for problem hemangiomas. To avoid a growth rebound, the pediatrician may recommend therapy continue until your child's first birthday.
Beta blocker medicines.
Some hemangiomas may go away if treated with propranolol, which is a liquid medicine taken by mouth. Treatment typically needs to continue until about 1 to 2 years of age. Side effects can include high blood sugar, low blood pressure and wheezing.
Hemangiomas and vascular malformations usually occur by chance. However, they can also be inherited in a family as an autosomal dominant trait. Autosomal dominant means that one gene is necessary to express the condition, and the gene is passed from parent to child with a 50/50 risk for each pregnancy.
Beta-Blocker Medications
The medication is usually given twice a day for at least six months. A topical form of beta-blocker, timolol, is often given as a liquid drop. It is applied directly to the skin for more superficial, less-worrisome hemangiomas that need treatment.
Over time, your hemangioma should disappear on its own. Watch for potential warning signs of an unusual hemangioma, like color changes, bleeding, vision changes, or difficulty eating or breathing.
They are very common and occur in approximately 10 percent of the world's population. Most cases show no symptoms. Symptomatic hemangiomas represent less than one percent of all hemangiomas, and are more common in women than in men. If left untreated, symptomatic hemangiomas can cause serious neurological effects.
PHACE (sometimes also called PHACE association, PHACES syndrome, PHACES association or Pascual-Castroviejo type II syndrome) is an associated collection of disorders characterized by a large infantile hemangioma (benign tumor, presenting as a strawberry mark) on a child's face, scalp and neck, together with a ...
Over a period of five to seven years, a hemangioma will usually diminish in size. This is called the period of involution. Sometimes they completely disappear. Larger ones may be replaced with fatty tissue and can leave the skin looking stretched out.
Ulceration is the most common complication, and amblyopia is frequently associated with periocular tumors. Airways hemangiomas may be life-threatening, and disfigurement can heavily impact the patient's quality of life.
Background: The proliferative phase of infantile hemangiomas (IHs) is usually complete by 9 months of life. Late growth beyond age 3 years is rarely reported.
Most hemangiomas are not visible at birth, but they often begin to appear during the first four to six weeks of a child's life. All skin hemangiomas will be visible by six months of age. They may occur anywhere on the skin surface, but they are most common on the scalp, face and neck.
Some hemangiomas look like a rubbery red "strawberry" patch of skin, while others may cause a skin bulge that has a blue tint. Most hemangiomas grow larger during the first year of life. Growth is typically fastest in the first 6 months.
A cavernous hemangiomas is an abnormal tangle of tightly packed, thin-walled capillaries that are prone to bleeding. In the brain, cavernous hemangiomas may remain stable for years and never cause symptoms or may bleed one or more times and cause seizures or stroke.
Most hemangiomas occur on the surface of the skin or just beneath it. They often develop on the face and neck, and can vary greatly in color, shape, and size. Because hemangiomas very rarely become cancerous, most do not require any medical treatment.