Masterly inactivity in infantile haemangioma: Does it still hold relevance?

Haemangiomas are a source of concern to the parents. It has long been advised to plan a conservative management and counsel the attendants in various literatures owing to the spontaneous regression in these cases. We tried to find out the role of conservative management in our setup. The objective of this study was to assess the effect of conservative management in infantile haemangiomas.

This was a retrospective study from January 2001 to December 2012 including infants with haemangioma in low risk locations. Patients were evaluated at periodic intervals for regression and complications. Interventions done were surgical excision/ cauterisation in cases presenting with complications in the form of bleed or severe ulceration or in residual lesion not responding to the conservative management.

A total of 104 cases were included. Mean age of the cases at presentation was 32 weeks (range: 6-48 weeks). Mean follow-up was 48 months (range: 9-68 months). Average lesion size at the time of presentation was 4.2 ± 0.5 cm 2 and the average lesion size at last presentation was 1.8 ± 0.5 cm 2 . A total of 28 cases presented with complications as bleed, ulceration. These cases were located at extremities and were managed by excision in 13 cases and cauterisation in 15 cases. 13 cases presented with rapid proliferation. Thus, 41 (39.4%) cases presented with complications or rapid progression. Complete regression was seen in 49 cases and remaining 14 (22.2%) cases had some residual lesion.

Conservative management should be offered only to very small lesions located at concealed sites. Lesions located at extremities and exposed sites should not be considered for conservative management.