Thrombotic Complications in Venous Malformations: Are There Differences Between Facial and Other Localizations?

Venous thrombosis (VT) is a frequent complication in venous malformations (VM) in relation with blood stasis and localized intravascular coagulopathy (LIC). Our aim was to describe the clinical characteristics and the treatment of patients with facial and non facial VM with VT. We implemented an observational retrospective study of patients with VM followed between 2002 and 2017. We compared features of facial and non facial VM. Descriptive and bivariate statistics were computed and the P value was set at 0.05. Fifty patients were included between 2002 and 2017. 24 of them were women (44%). The median age of the patients at diagnosis was 16,5 [8-31] years. The median follow up was 2 [2; 4] years. In non facial VM venous thrombosis occurred in 12 cases. In facial VM, 3 patients had thrombotic complication (15%). We demonstrate no difference of VT between facial VM and other localization. No patients had clinical risk factors for VT at diagnosis. Our study showed that VT is a frequent complication of VM and its proportion is not different between facial and non facial VM. Studies are needed to confirm the role of LIC in VT in VM, particularly in facial VM.