Hemangioma Case Studies

Intramuscular hemangiomas was first described by Liston in 1843. This benign vascular lesion of skeletal muscles make up for less than 1% of all hemangiomas.[1] They commonly present in early childhood or early adult life,[4] although there were some studies which reported such cases in elderly patients. Generally intramuscular hemangiomas have shown an equal sex distribution except for the involvement of the masseter muscle which has a definite male predominance with ratio of 3 to 1.[5]

Hemangioma is histologically classified as capillary (vessels smaller than 140 micrometer in diameter), cavernous (vessels larger than 140 micrometer in diameter) and mixed (consisting of both small and large vessels).[6]

Capillary hemangioma usually presents with a short history.[7] They are highly cellular thus explain the solidity and lack of clinical signs to demonstrate its vascular nature. On the other hand, cavernous hemangioma generally present with longer history of symptoms and tend to be larger in size with accompanied pain. Cavernous type are most common in the lower extremity with only 19% occurring in the head and neck region.[8] Whereas mixed type is histologically and clinically similar to cavernous type. We find the cavernous classification most suggestive in this case study as evidenced by our clinical and histological findings. …show more content…
The most likely explanation is that the intramuscular hemangioma is a congenital mass which is derived by abnormal embryonic sequestrations. This etiology is similar to the congenital arteriovenous malformations.[9] Trauma have also been suggested and may give rise to the etiology or growth spurts.[4] Hormonal role in the growth of intramuscular hemangioma was postulated, but there is no specific data available to validate this