A retrospective study: Clinicopathological and immunohistochemical analysis of 54 cases of tufted angioma.

BACKGROUND

Tufted angioma is a rare benign lesion with vascular proliferation.

AIM

To retrospectively analyze the clinicopathological manifestations and immunohistochemical features of tufted angioma.

METHODS

Clinical and histopathological features of tufted angioma (n = 54) were evaluated and analyzed retrospectively in the Department of Dermatology, Xijing Hospital from 2003 to 2014.

RESULTS

Clinically, tufted angioma usually presented as erythematous plaques and papules on the head and neck (n = 11), trunk (n = 21) and extremities (n = 22), mainly in children (n = 48), without gender difference (24 males and 30 females). A total of 45 cases showed solitary lesions and nine cases showed multiple lesions. Common symptoms included pain (n = 11), tenderness (n = 7), itching (n = 1), hypertrichosis (n = 7), hyperhidrosis (n = 6) and Kasabach-Merritt phenomenon (n = 1). Histopathologically, typical tufted angioma (n = 37) showed proliferation of endothelial cells in a so-called cannonball pattern, while in the early (n = 4) and regressed (n = 13) stages the tufted appearance was not prominent. The proliferated endothelial cells were diffusely positive for CD31 and Wilms tumor 1, focally positive for D2-40 and Prox1, and negative for Glut-1.

LIMITATIONS

Our research was confined to patients of Chinese origin and our sample size was limited.

CONCLUSIONS

Tufted angioma is a rare vascular neoplasm with diverse clinical manifestations and unique pathological features. It should be recognized as a vascular tumor with lymphatic differentiation. We emphasize the importance of considering tufted angioma in the differential diagnoses of any congenital or acquired vascular tumor.