Diagnosis and treatment options for cutaneous hemangioma in infants and children

    Cutaneous hemangioma is a common disease in infants and young children. It is commonly found on the head, face, limbs and other body parts, which greatly affects the aesthetics; meanwhile, many lesions are located in special parts such as mucosa, muscle, bone and intracranial, causing certain physiological dysfunction; some lesions are life-threatening due to infection, bleeding, ulcer formation, high-flow heart failure or special parts.       Infantile hemangioma is a common benign tumor in infants, with a clinical incidence of 4%. All lesions can appear within a few weeks after birth, and congenital onset is rare. The incidence in female infants is more than three times that of male infants. Premature infants weighing less than 1000 g have a prevalence of up to 22.9%. According to Mulliken and Glowacki classification, hemangiomas are classified as capillary hemangioma, cavernous hemangioma and mixed hemangioma. Capillary hemangioma is a superficial hemangioma, which used to be called “strawberry hemangioma”. Spongiform hemangiomas are located in the deep dermis or subcutaneous tissue and have a blue or colorless appearance. They are currently classified cytologically as hemangiomas and vascular malformations. Typical lesions appear around 2 weeks after birth, with the head and neck being the most commonly involved sites, followed by the trunk and extremities, and the vulva and internal organs such as the liver and intestines can also be involved, but the lungs are rare. Most present as isolated cutaneous and/or subcutaneous lesions, with multiple lesions in about 15% of patients. Superficial hemangiomas are bright red in color and gradually deepen during the proliferative phase, changing from bright red to dark purple and finally to a florid appearance at the beginning of regression. 40% of children have residual degenerative changes in the skin and subcutaneous tissue after regression is complete: scarring, atrophy, depigmentation, capillary dilation, and skin laxity. The skin on the surface of deep hemangiomas is elevated, normal in color or translucent blue. The tumor tends to proliferate rapidly for up to 6 months, after which it gradually enters a phase of regression, where the growth of the hemangioma gradually stops and begins to fade slowly until the period of completed regression, which can take up to about 10 years.      Treatment and prognosis of cutaneous hemangioma 1. The importance of early intervention The natural regression of infantile hemangioma is a long process, especially for lesions located on the face and neck, which can cause a lot of psychological stress to the child and his parents. Early lesions may be small in extent, but proliferate rapidly in the short term. Although most hemangiomas only affect the appearance and do not cause serious functional impairment, if the proliferation of lesions can be controlled at the early stage of hyperplasia, the damage to the appearance will be minimized and the remission period will be earlier and the remission process will be shorter. In addition, infant hemangioma with complications or some special areas should be treated actively. ①Special sites, such as eyelids, orbits, nose, lips, mouth, perineum, etc., because they can lead to serious functional disorders; ②Complemented systemic complications, such as congestive heart failure, thrombocytopenia, coagulation mechanism disorders, etc.; ③Local complications of tumor bleeding, ulcers or functional disorders (vision, hearing, breathing, swallowing, etc.).      2.Pulsed dye laser treatment: Pulsed dye laser is the first-line treatment for superficial skin hemangioma. Commonly used is the pulsed dye laser, which is considered to be the most advanced and safest laser in the world for the treatment of vascular diseases. Pulsed dye laser can be used for proliferative hemangioma to control its growth; it can also be used for receding hemangioma to reduce the color of hemangioma or capillary dilated erythema, and it can also be used for ulcerative hemangioma to accelerate the healing of ulcer.      3.Systemic medication: Oral propranolol is currently the drug of choice in systemic therapy. Propranolol is superior to glucocorticoids, the traditional gold standard of treatment, in terms of safety and efficacy. It has been used to treat proliferative hemangiomas, ulcerative hemangiomas, periocular hemangiomas, airway hemangiomas and hepatic hemangiomas with satisfactory results. At present, propranolol has been widely accepted by doctors and patients due to its high efficiency and safety in the treatment of hemangioma, and has been widely used at home and abroad.