Spontaneous Regression Of A Tufted Angioma

Abstract

Sir, Tufted angioma is a rare, benign vascular tumour1 which has been described under a variety of synonyms including progressive capillary haemangioma2 and angioblastoma of Nakagawa.3 The tufted angioma tends to grow progressively and treatment can be difficult. We report a case of spontaneous regression of this lesion. A 2‐month‐old female child presented with a tender lesion below the left antecubital fossa that had been present since she was 3 weeks old. Examination revealed a 2 × 2.5 cm firm subcutaneous tender lump. The overlying skin had a bluish colouration with a more erythematous patch evident centrally (Fig. 1a). The remainder of the skin was normal. There was no other medical history of note and no family history of similar lesions. The lesion was biopsied. Histological examination showed lobulated aggregates of basophilic cells within the dermis (Fig. 2). These cells appeared vasoformative with canalization but showed a predominantly solid growth pattern. There was no cytological atypia and mitoses were inconspicuous. There were slit‐like lymphovascular spaces at the periphery of the aggregates (Fig. 3). Immunocytochemistry demonstrated positivity with factor VIII‐related antigen, Ulex europaeus agglutinin I and smooth muscle actin. In addition to these cellular aggregates there were single cells infiltrating through dermal collagen, surrounding skin adnexae and there were further dilated lymphovascular channels in the adjacent dermis.