[Clinical problems related to soft tissue hemangiomas of the lower limb]

The paper presents the clinical problems related to soft tissue hemangiomas of the lower limbs basing on our material consisting of 19 patients, their age ranging from 1.5 to 53 years (average 17.4 years). Soft tissue hemangiomas were most commonly found in the thigh (7 cases) and in the foot (7 cases), less common localizations were the lower leg (4 cases) and the buttock (1 case). The most common symptoms were: local pain, a palpaple tumor cherry-sized to orange-sized, limitation of movement and joint contracture, causing limb dysfunction. Ultrasound and X-ray examination proved to be very useful in assessing the diagnosis. All patients underwent surgery with good results. The histopathologic examination showed 17 cases of cavernosous hemangioma, 1 case of papillary hemangioma and 1 case of hemangiofibroma. In the follow-up examination ranging from 1.5 to 23 years post-op proper limb function was found in all cases. In 2 cases re-operations were performed.