Vasoformative Neoplasms in a Teaching Hospital, Sagamu, Ogun State: A Histopathological Review.

Abstract

Objective: To determine the pattern of occurrence and histopathologic characteristics of vasoformative tumours in Sagamu, South- West Nigeria, over a period of four years. Design: A cross-sectional retrospective study from January 2003 to December 2006. Setting: Department of Morbid Anatomy & Histopathology of Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital, Sagamu with efficient laboratory services. Methods: All the pathological reports and slides of submitted vasoformative tumour biopsies were retrieved and reviewed. The relevant clinical information from the case notes, histopathology registers and reports included biodata of the patients, site of the lesions, and histological types were retrieved and analyzed. Results: Vasoformative tumours constituted 1.4% of all surgical biopsies and 37.7 % of all soft tissue tumours. Among the vasoformative tumours, 90.0% were benign and 20.0% malignant tumours. The male to female sex distribution was 0.8:1 for benign tumours with slight female preponderance whilst male preponderance existed in malignant vasoformative tumours. The age of patient ranged from 11days to 60years with peak age incidence in the age group 0-10 years. The mean ages for benign and malignant neoplasms were 18.0 years and 41.5 years respectively. Haemangiomas were the predominating benign vasoformative tumours (94.4%), of which the majority is capillary haemangioma. Angiofibroma was also seen in 5.5 % cases and located in the nasopharynx. Malignant vasoformative tumours accounted for 20.0% of vasoformative tumours, of which all were angiosarcomas. However, there was no case of Kaposi , sarcoma. Head and neck region are the most vulnerable anatomic sites for both benign and malignant vasoformative tumours in 70.0% and 50.0% cases respectively. No multicentric tumours were found in this series. Conclusion: Vasoformative tumours were common soft tissue tumours of childhood in Sagamu, South –West Nigeria. Haemangiomas were the most common vasoformative tumours and they share similar characteristics with those seen elsewhere. Also, there seems to be no relationship between malignant vascular tumours and AIDS infection but further future investigations will unravel this misery.

KEY WORDS: Histopathological review, Haemangioma, Angiosarcoma.