Vascular malformations and tumors

Last revised by Yuranga Weerakkody on 15 Jul 2023

Vascular malformations and tumors are a heterogeneous group of lesions that may affect the arterial, capillary, venous or lymphatic system or any combination thereof. They encompass a bewildering range of lesions,  syndromes, and masses ranging from the relatively common (e.g. infantile hemangioma and arteriovenous malformations (AVM)) to the rare (e.g. Dabska tumor and Bean syndrome).

There is significant variability in nomenclature in the literature with many established terms being vague, or downright misleading. A number of classification systems have naturally been proposed over the years, with the system initially described by Mulliken and Glowacki in 1982 2, now adopted by the International Society for the Study of Vascular Anomalies (ISSVA), becoming the standard. Despite this many older terms remain ingrained in textbooks, articles and day to day practice. As such when reporting these lesions we suggest using the modern ISSVA terminology, followed in brackets by the "traditional" term. 

The main classification both radiologists and clinicians should be familiar with is the ISSVA classification of vascular anomalies

Another popular classification system is the Hamburg classification system of congenital vascular malformations

As many of these lesions can occur anywhere in body in some instances they can be conveniently classified according to location, for examples: 

ADVERTISEMENT: Supporters see fewer/no ads

Updating… Please wait.

 Unable to process the form. Check for errors and try again.

 Thank you for updating your details.