Abortive or minimal-growth hemangiomas: Immunohistochemical evidence that they represent true infantile hemangiomas

Background: Infantile hemangiornas have a characteristic natural history of rapid proliferation in the first weeks of life followed by spontaneous involution. At birth, they may be present as a precursor lesion. Sometimes one may see precursor lesions that never undergo a growth phase or that undergo minimal growth. It is unclear the exact nature of these precursor-like lesions. Objective: We sought to describe the iriorphology and histopathology of these precursor-like lesions Methods: We describe 4 patients with macules resembling precursor lesions of hemangiomas that did not show proliferation phase or minimal growth. The histopathologic and immunohistochemical Study with glucose transporter-1 was performed in all of these cases. Results: The skin biopsy specimen showed superficial ectatic vessels that reacted with anti-glucose transporter-1 antibodies. All skin biopsy specimens exhibited capillary lobules in papillary dermis and, in two of them, in the reticular dermis and subcutis. Limitations: This text is limited by the number of cases reported. Conclusions: Precursor lesions of hemangioma that do not show proliferation phase or minimal growth represent, in the view of glucose transporter-1 immunoreactivity,true hemangiomas of infancy with an aborted or arrested growth cycle.