[Classification of angiomas: hemangiomas and superficial vascular malformations]

The present classification of angiomas is not only of nosological interest. If it has effectively replaced the previous multiple classifications, it is because it provides a perfect correlation between the clinical features of each type and its angio-architectural and haemodynamic features. In practice, this results in a well-established attitude since determining the clinical type makes it possible to select first the additional examinations required, then the therapeutic indications particular to each type. Angiomas are divided into two main groups: haemangiomas or pseudo-vascular tumours which are specific to infants and spontaneously resolve after the first months of life; superficial vascular malformations proper, with their elementary types each of them developed on a sector of the vascular blood system: capillary, venous or capillaro-venous, and arteriovenous malformations. These three types may be diversely associated in any given patient; they may also be associated with abnormalities of the lymphatic system, producing systematized and/or disseminated complex angiodysplasias.