Vascular tumors

Abstract

Vascular neoplasms and malformations account for a significant number of ocular adnexal disorders, but are rare within the eye. Vascular lesions can be subdivided according to whether they represent true hyperplasia of vascular endothelium, either reactive or neoplastic, or are nonproliferative and enlarge only as a function of the growth of the individual or due to an accumulation of intraluminal or extravasated fluids. However, vascular proliferative processes such as infantile hemangioma have an involutional phase such that the term proliferative may not always apply, and certain entities may have both proliferative and nonproliferative features, defying exact categorization. Vascular proliferations with potentially aggressive clinical behavior, such as local recurrence following their excision and/or metastasis are exceedingly rare in the eye and ocular adnexae.