Acral and digital angioleiomyomata: 14-year experience at the Cleveland Clinic and review of the literature.

BACKGROUND

Angioleiomyoma is a benign neoplasm thought to derive from the tunica media of small venous vessels. Angioleiomyomata most frequently occur in the lower extremities with less common occurrences on the trunk, head and upper extremities. Few cases of acral and digital angioleiomyoma have been described in the literature.

METHODS

We add a series of 21 patients with acral angioleiomyoma including 6 cases of digital angioleiomyoma to the body of clinical and histological findings along with a review of the literature of digital angioleiomyomata.

RESULTS

Digital angioleiomyoma are equally distributed between male and female patients and are more often painful than the angioleiomyoma of all body sites. Acral angioleiomyomata favor the feet over hands at a ratio of 2.5:1, while digital angioleiomyoma favor the fingers over toes at a ratio of 4.3:1.

CONCLUSIONS

We suggest that vascular leiomyoma be included in the differential diagnosis of smooth muscle tumors with particular regard to the digits of both the hands and the feet. Digital angioleiomyomata differ from acral angioleiomyomata in their equal gender distribution, increased tendency to cause pain and preponderance for the fingers over the toes.