Abortive or minimal-growth hemangiomas:: Immunohistochemical evidence that they represent true infantile hemangiomas.
Corella, Francisca MD a; Garcia-Navarro, Xavier MD a; Ribe, Adriana MD b; Alomar, Agustin MD a; Baselga, Eulalia MD a,∗
[Report] Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology. 58(4):685-690, April 2008.

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Background: Infantile hemangiomas have a characteristic natural history of rapid proliferation in the first weeks of life followed by spontaneous involution. At birth, they may be present as a precursor lesion. Sometimes one may see precursor lesions that never undergo a growth phase or that undergo minimal growth. It is unclear the exact nature of these precursor-like lesions.

Objective: We sought to describe the morphology and histopathology of these precursor-like lesions.

Methods: We describe 4 patients with macules resembling precursor lesions of hemangiomas that did not show proliferation phase or minimal growth. The histopathologic and immunohistochemical study with glucose transporter-1 was performed in all of these cases.

Results: The skin biopsy specimen showed superficial ectatic vessels that reacted with anti-glucose transporter-1 antibodies. All skin biopsy specimens exhibited capillary lobules in papillary dermis and, in two of them, in the reticular dermis and subcutis.

Limitations: This text is limited by the number of cases reported.

Conclusions: Precursor lesions of hemangioma that do not show proliferation phase or minimal growth represent, in the view of glucose transporter-1 immunoreactivity, true hemangiomas of infancy with an aborted or arrested growth cycle.

(C) 2008 by Mosby, Inc.