Visceral and mucosal involvement in neonatal haemangiomatosis

Two types of neonatal haemangiomatosis (NH) are distinguished: diffuse which is associated with a high rate of mortality linked to mucosal/visceral involvement, and benign.

First, this study aimed to examine the frequency of mucosal and visceral (especially hepatic) involvement in NH, according to skin extension, and second, it aimed to examine clinical, pathological (with glucose transporter 1 (GLUT-1) immunostaining), and imaging features of NH, including follow-up data.

This was a descriptive retrospective study carried out in the University Hospital Center of Tours, France.

The study included 19 patients with cutaneous NH (number of skin haemangiomas ranging from 5 to >100). Mucosal involvement was observed in 32% of all cases (100% and 19% in diffuse and other cutaneous cases respectively) and hepatic involvement in 42% (67% and 38% respectively). The number of hepatic haemangiomas ranged from 1 to >10. Half of the hepatic haemangiomas cases exhibited increased hepatic arterial blood flow.

Mucosal and hepatic involvement was frequent in cases with a high number of cutaneous haemangiomas (>100), but only frequency of mucosal involvement was statistically significant (P = 0.021).