Vascular Anomalies in Newborns: Clinical Presentation, Complications, and Peculiarities of Therapy

Abstract

The aim: To analyze cases of vascular anomalies in newborns retrospectively to study their main clinical signs and to determine indications for urgent treatment. Materials and methods: A retrospective review of 281 pediatric vascular anomalies diagnosed between 2011 and 2019 was performed. The results of clinical examination, prenatal history, laboratory, sonography, and radiological data were evaluated. Results: Clinical manifestations in the newborn period documented in 170 (60.5%) patients, anomalies were visualized prenatally in 8.9% cases. Five newborns with head and neck LMs required urgent treatment, which amounted 7.9% of all newborns with LMs. The indication for urgent surgery was acute respiratory failure. Partial malformation resection with tracheostomy was performed to those patients, along with intraoperative injection of sclerotherapeutic agents and argon coagulation of residual malformation tissues. EXIT procedure was performed in one case. No correlation (p=0.2) was found between the number of skin lesions and the severity of liver lesions in children with multifocal hepatic hemangiomas, congestive cardiac failure suddenly occurs in one patient in the third week of life. Two newborns with diffuse hepatic hamangioma were manifested right after the birth with clinical signs of liver failure, hypothyreosis, and cardiac failure. Short courses of corticosteroids performed in 7 patients with KHE and Kasabach-Merritte fenomemn for thrombocytopenia correction. Conclusions: Clinical signs of vascular anomalies in neonatal period were seen in 57.5% children with vascular anomalies, and only 2.9% of them required treatment. Treatment itself is advantageous only in cases when life-threatening complications develop, such as airways obstruction, cardiac and/or liver failure, thrombocytopenia.