Infantile haemangiomas: Identifying high-risk lesions in primary care

Abstract

BACKGROUND Infantile haemangiomas (IHs) are benign vascular tumours that affect up to 10% of infants and arise in the first few weeks-to-months of life. Some are associated with an increased risk of complications and poor cosmetic outcomes. General practitioners (GPs) are ideally placed to identify high-risk IHs and coordinate their management. OBJECTIVE The aim of this article is to outline strategies to identify high-risk IHs and when to involve a multidisciplinary team. DISCUSSION IHs that involve the lower face or neck can be associated with airway obstruction. Having five or more IHs is associated with hepatic haemangiomas, high-output cardiac failure and hypothyroidism. IHs that involve the eyes or mouth can cause functional impairments such as amblyopia and feeding difficulties, respectively. Large segmental IHs maybe associated with syndromic presentations including PHACE syndrome when on the lower face, PELVIS syndrome when on the perineum and LUMBAR syndrome when on the lower back.