Clinicopathological observation of hemangioma of infancy: The diagnostic usefulness of GLUT-1 immunohistochemical stain

Background: Hemangioma of infancy (HOI) is one of the most common tumors in childhood. Their clinical features can on occasion look like those of other vascular tumors and malformations, so the correct differentiation of HOI may not always be easy. Objective: The purpose of this study was to review the clinicopathological features of HOIs and to parti-cularlyexamine the usefulness of glucose transporter protein isoform-1 (GLUT-1) immunohistochemical stain (IHS) as a specific marker of HOI. Methods: This study was conducted at the Vascular Anomaly Clinic of Kyungpook National University Hospital during 11 years (1998 ~ 2008). Sixty-two cases were selected in addition to selecting other rumors and malformation as a control group. We then reviewed their clinical features and the results of H&E and GLUT-1 IHS for making the differential diagnosis. Results: The male to female ratio was 1 : 2.88. The head and neck were the most commonly involved sites. The complications included ulceration and/or bleeding (12.9%), scarring (9.7%), infection (4.8%), ocular complications (4.8%) like visual axis occlusion, and pain (1.6%). Three phases of proliferating, involuting and involuted of a HOI comprised 11.3%, 37.1% and 51.6% of the lesions, respectively, from the clinical view point and 11.3%, 48.4% and 40.3% of the lesions, respectively, from the pathological point of view. GLUT-1 was positively expressed on almost all of the HOIs (47/57, 82.5%), except for 10 HOIs of the involuted phase and the other controls. Conclusion: The clinicopathological findings of this study were similar with those of the previous reports. The expression of GLUT-1 by a HOI can be helpful to make the correct diagnosis from other vascular tumors and malformations.