Clinicopathological study of hemangioma of infancy and the immunohistochemical study of GLUT1 expression

Abstract

Background: Hemangiomas of infancy are common, benign, pediatric tumors of endothelial cells. This is characterized by an initial phase of rapid proliferation, which is followed by slow involution, often leading to complete regression. There has been no large clinicopathological study in Korea. Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the clinicopathological findings of hemangioma of infancy in Korean patients. Methods: The clinical study included 256 patients of hemangioma of infancy. Histopathological examination of 18 cases was done with H&E staining. We also performed immunohistochemical staining with GLUT1 in 10 cases. Results: The study results are summarized as follows: 1. The male to female ratio was 1:3.1. Half of the lesions were noticed at birth. 2. The sites of predilection were head and neck (68.9%), upper extremities (11.7%), trunk (10.2%), and lower extremities (8.8%). 3. The results of clinical classification by depth of lesion were: superficial hemangioma (63.7%), deep hemangioma (20.9%), and combined hemangioma (15.4%). 4. The results of histopathological classification by the developmental phase were: proliferating phase (16.7%), involuting phase (83.3%). 5. In the immunohistochemical study using GLUT1, three out of ten cases of hemangioma were stained positively. Conclusion: The clinical findings of our study were identical with previous published reports. The characteristic expression of GLUT1 in hemangioma of infancy can be helpful in differentiating them from other vascular tumors and vascular malformations, and in the examination of developmental pathogenesis in hemangioma.