[Congenital vascular malformations: epidemiology, classification and therapeutic basis]

Congenital vascular malformations are part of the rare diseases of angiology and vascular surgery and can present in a variety of forms. They rise a lot of doubts and many diagnostic and therapeutic challenges. Treatment options are widely variable and often debated; surgeons usually have doubts about the best procedure to adopt. It is also an area of great anatomic and functional variability where the confusion regarding the nomenclature and classifications has been frequent, rendering difficult to adopt standardized measures. There have been significant advances in the recent years towards reaching a consensus. Based on his practical clinical experience and past work on these issues, the author reviews the epidemiology, the classifications and the therapeutic basis of this pathology. The author emphasizes the fact that the International Society for the Study of Vascular Anomalies (ISSVA) classification provides a useful framework for classifying vascular anomalies, as well as the therapeutic percutaneous embolization using polidocanol foam to control venous malformations.