Head and Neck Venous Malformations in Children: Clinical Characteristics, Therapeutic Approach, and Outcomes

Venous malformations (VM) are the most common vascular malformation in children, frequently presenting on the head and neck. This retrospective study evaluated the clinical characteristics, management, and outcomes of pediatric patients with head and neck VM cared for at our institutional Vascular Anomalies Center. We included 51 patients, most with isolated spongiform VM located on the face manifesting since infancy but diagnosed at preschool age; the most frequent treatment was sclerotherapy, and most patients had partial to total improvement of their VM. In this study, we found the majority of pediatric VM of the head and neck were isolated of the spongiform type, and diagnostic delay was frequent; sclerotherapy was the predominantly used treatment, and most patients reported partial to complete improvement.