Examination of oral hemangiomas by intraoral ultrasonography

Oral hemangioma is a benign vascular tumor characterized by the presence of numerous blood vessels. We aimed to examine the clinical and ultrasonographic findings of patients diagnosed with oral hemangioma in our ultrasonography (USG) archive, retrospectively.

This study was conducted by examining 20 patients diagnosed with oral hemangioma and underwent USG examination in the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology of Atatürk University Faculty of Dentistry from 2016 to 2020. All patients had intraoral and radiographic examinations. Patients pre-diagnosed clinically oral hemangioma were evaluated as intraoral with USG. The intraoral USG examinations were performed using both the B-mode and the color Doppler mode.

The mean age of the patients was 42.4 ± 19.14 years; 16 patients were female and four were male. The lesions were mostly observed on the alveolar mucosa (30%), followed by the buccal mucosa (25%), the lower lip (15%), the mouth floor (15%), the tongue (15%). In intraoral USG examinations of all oral hemangiomas, we detected submucosal located, well-defined, lobulated, non-capsule, hypo-isoechoic, heterogeneous lesion areas. Additionally, while we detected only peripheral blood flow in 6 (30%) of 20 patients, we detected both internal and peripheral blood flow in 14 (70%).

In our study, the examination of the oral hemangiomas with the intraoral probe and the color Doppler mode was very helpful in the differential diagnosis. Although histopathology has an important place in definitive diagnosis, particularly intraoral USG can provide sufficient information for the diagnosis of oral hemangiomas.