Large IHs can leave visible skin changes secondary to significant stretching of the skin or alteration of surface texture. When they interfere with vision, breathing, or threaten significant disfigurement (most notably facial lesions, and in particular, nose and lips), they are usually treated. Medical therapies are most effective when used during the period of most significant hemangioma growth, which corresponds to the first 5 months of life. Ulcerated hemangiomas, a subset of lesions requiring therapy, are usually treated by addressing wound care, pain, and hemangioma growth. Medication
Treatment options for IHs include medical therapies (systemic, intralesional, and topical), surgery, and laser therapy. Prior to 2008, the mainstay of therapy for problematic hemangiomas was oral corticosteroids, which are effective and remain an option for patients in whom beta-blocker therapy is contraindicated or poorly tolerated. Following the serendipitous observation that propranolol, a nonselective beta blocker, is well tolerated and effective for treatment of hemangiomas, the agent was studied in a large, randomized, controlled trial and was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for this indication in 2014. Oral propranolol is more effective than placebo, observation without intervention, or oral corticosteroids. Propranolol has subsequently become the first-line systemic medical therapy for treatment of these lesions.Since that time, topical timolol maleate in addition to oral propranalol has become a common therapy for infantile hemangiomas. According to a 2018 Cochrane review, both of these therapies have demonstrated beneficial effects in terms of clearance of hemangiomas without an increase in harms.
On MRI, IHs show a well-circumscribed lesion with intermediate and increased signal intensity on T1- and T2-weighted sequences, respectively, and strong enhancement after gadolinium injections, with fast-flow vessels. Tissue for diagnosis can be obtained via fine-needle aspiration, skin biopsy, or excisional biopsy. Under the microscope, IHs are unencapsulated aggregates of closely packed, thin-walled capillaries, usually with endothelial lining. Blood-filled vessels are separated by scant connective tissue. Their lumina may be thrombosed and organized. Hemosiderin pigment deposition due to vessel rupture may be observed. The GLUT-1 histochemical marker can be helpful in distinguishing IHs from other items on the differential diagnosis, such as vascular malformations. Liver
Infantile haemangiomas in the liver are found in 16% of all liver haemangiomas. Its sizes are usually less than 1 to 2 cm in diameter. It may show a "flash-filling" phenomenon in which there is the fast enhancement of the contrast material in the lesion instead of slow, centripetal, nodular filling of the lesions in usual hemangiomas. On CT and MRI, it shows rapid filling during arterial phase, with contrast retention in venous and delayed phases. Treatment
Most IHs disappear without treatment, leaving minimal to no visible marks. This may take many years, however, and a proportion of lesions may require some form of therapy. Multidisciplinary clinical practice guidelines for the management of infantile hemangiomas were recently published. Indications for treatment include functional impairment (i.e. visual or feeding compromise), bleeding, potentially life-threatening complications (airway, cardiac, or hepatic disease), and risk of long-term or permanent disfigurement.