The Role of Medical Management in Vascular Anomalies

Historically, the care for patients with vascular anomalies has been challenging due to the complex nature and diversity of these anomalies with a wide array of symptomatology. In the recent past, most therapies for vascular anomalies focused on surgical, procedural, and supportive care measures to treat local symptoms, but many patients still experienced significant disease with excess morbidity and mortality. Today, the pharmacotherapeutic options available for treating vascular anomalies have greatly expanded due to the increased understanding of the genetic and molecular pathways causing these anomalies, with the subsequent development of more targeted pharmacotherapies. In addition to the growth in targeted medications available to treat patients with vascular anomalies, there has been an improved understanding of the hematologic abnormalities related to these diseases and how to manage them. While interventional radiologists do not typically primarily manage systemic medications to treat vascular anomalies, a baseline understanding of the medical management of these diseases is essential to ensuring that a contemporary, multidisciplinary, multimodal approach to treatment is pursued when appropriate. Ultimately, patients are now benefitting from having multiple modalities of treatments available to them and are experiencing improved quality of life and less morbidity.