About Vascular Malformations
Vascular malformations (VMs) are congenital vascular anomalies of the venous, arteries, lymphatics or a combination of these. VMs usually grow proportional to the patient. As they enlarge they can cause pain, discoloration of the skin, limb enlargement.
Symptoms
Symptoms can range from cosmetic appearance to the skin to limb hypertrophy. The most common symptoms are pain, discoloration, and hypertrophy of the skin or muscle.
Causes
Most VMs occur spontaneously without a specific cause. However, there are some that are associated with genetic syndromes.
Diagnosis
The diagnosis is usually made by a focused history and physical from a vein and vascular specialist. The specific type of malformation is determined usually by medical imaging such as: ultrasound, CT, MRI, Angiogram.
Treatment Options
Nonsurgical treatment is recommended to closing down the blood or lymph flow into the malformation performed by an interventional radiologist. Minimal invasive, image guided procedures to embolize the malformation. Many materials can be used to embolize such as: Medical glue, alcohol, small beads, and coils.