title: Scoring the proliferative activity of haemangioma of infancy: the Haemangioma Activity Score (HAS).
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Haemangioma of infancy (HOI) is the most frequently occurring benign tumour of infancy. A good, reliable and objective scoring system for haemangioma activity is not yet available.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  We have developed a simple system called the Haemangioma Activity Score (HAS) for scoring the (disease) proliferative activity of haemangiomas. The current study was undertaken to validate this system.
  
  
  METHODS
  We validated the HAS in a comparative study of photographs taken during consultations from 2000 until 2008 (n = 78). Agreement between three observers was assessed at two different time points (t(0) and t(1)) with a minimum interval of 6 months between them, using interclass correlation coefficients (ICC).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Agreement between observers was good. The average ICC of the HAS at t(0) and t(1) was 0.72 and 0.76, respectively. The average ICC of the HAS for the changes from baseline (HAS at t(0) minus HAS at t(1) ) was 0.69.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We conclude that the HAS is a good system for scoring the proliferative activity of haemangiomas, and believe it to be useful in future investigations. The number of studies comparing different therapies for treating haemangiomas is steadily increasing, and the HAS (before and after treatment) may provide a valuable scoring system for evaluating such therapies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatric Surgery, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: S R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Janmohamed
authors.forename: F B
authors.initials: FB
authors.lastname: de Waard-van der Spek
authors.forename: G C
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: Madern
authors.forename: P C J
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: de Laat
authors.forename: W C J
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Hop
authors.forename: A P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Oranje
mesh_terms: D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D006391:Hemangioma / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D015588:Observer Variation; D010865:Pilot Projects; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012720:Severity of Illness Index