Vascular Malformations: Summary

00:01 Well, in summary then, congenital vascular diseases are developmental abnormalities of the vascular system.

00:09 They’re not acquired. They’re present at birth.

00:13 They’re due to developmental abnormalities in the blood vessels.

00:16 There are a number of different forms, some of which are very benign such as the hemangioma of the skin, which usually just disappears as the child grows. And some can be extremely clinically dangerous if they’re in the brain and they bleed and cause strokes and so forth.

00:34 And we’ve talked about the hemangiomas, the benign ones. And we’ve talked about the cerebral arterial venous malformations and the cavernomas which, when they appear in the brain, can be a real problem. They can grow when they’re on the arm or the leg and can be removed surgically. It’s a lot easier than when they’re in the brain.

00:55 We talked about coarctation of the aorta and also various abnormalities of aortic-arch development, which also may require surgery because they obstruct the oesophagus or the trachea.

01:05 And finally we talked about the cosmetic problem of the port wine stain, which can be dealt with, usually fairly easily, with laser obliteration.