Vascular malformations: a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge (5 cases).

Vascular malformations: a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge (5 cases).

Vascular anomalies include vascular malformations and vascular tumours. These 2 entities have long been a source of confusion, until 2018, the International Society for the Study of Vascular Anomalies (ISSVA) made the difference [1]. In 1982, Mulliken and Glowacki, forerunners of the current classification of vascular anomalies, clearly distinguished vascular tumours dominated by haemangiomas, and which are proliferations of endothelial cells and vascular malformations which are hypo or hyperplastic vascular wall dysplasias [2]. In 1996, the International Society for the Study of Vascular Anomalies (ISSVA) drew up an initial classification, based on haemodynamic (slow or rapid flow) and anatomical (type of vessels affected) criteria. The fortuitous discovery in 2008 of the efficacy of Propranolol and its approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in infantile haemangioma has made vascular anomalies a hot topic [3]. The diagnosis of vascular malformations is suspected in the presence of an evocative clinical appearance but remains difficult because of the polymorphism. Echo-doppler is the first-line examination for confirming certain malformations. It also plays a role in treatment. MRI is the examination of choice. Treatment is not codified and depends mainly on the type of malformation, its location, size, depth, mucosal involvement and proximity to vital structures.