Sammendrag
Abstract
Hemangiomas of infancy (HOI) are the most common tumors of childhood with an epidemiological frequency estimated to 10-12%. They are benign tumors of endothelial cells that form vessels of various diameter. The tumor goes trough four phases of growth. Nascent, rapid proliferating, slow involuting and at last the involuted phase. Despite the fact that the tumortissue is non-invasive, the size, location or physiology of the tumor in some cases lead to life- or function threatening conditions. Most common are complications to eye function due to orbital tumor location, airway obstruction by intratracheal lesions and congestive heart-failure due to hyperflow in large tumor-vessels. When these complications occur medical treatment may be required. Most used and best documented is intralesional corticosteroid injection for smaller lesions, systemic corticosteroids for larger lesions and systemic interferon alfa when the tumor fails to respond to corticosteroids or when corticosteroids are contraindicated. One should be aware of well known side effects from systemic use of both corticosteroids and interferon alfa. This article discusses the experience from 13 patients with large hemangiomas referred to the norwegian Rikshospitalet from 1984-2006. They were all treated with systemic steroids, interferon alfa or both. The retrospective study of medical records is compared to international literature regarding epidemiology, pathology and treatment.