Acute neonatal presentation of a lymphatic malformation

Oropharyngeal lymphatic malformations usually present with a mass either at birth or in the first 2 years of life. Rarely, lymphatic malformations present with extremely progressive respiratory problems shortly after birth, and usually occur in cases which have remained undetected in the absence of antenatal ultrasound. We report the case of a newborn that required tracheostomy and gastrostomy due to a rapidly expansive lymphatic malformation. MRI showed multilocular microcystic lymphatic malformation. Intralesional bleomycin injections proved to be successful in this patient. A short review of epidemiology, clinical manifestation and treatment is given.