The results of surgical treatment for patients with venous malformations.
BACKGROUND
The objective of this study was to estimate the outcomes of surgical treatment for patients with venous malformations (VMs).


METHODS
We retrospectively reviewed the data of 48 patients who underwent surgical management for VMs from 1994 to 2009 at our institute. The 1-year responses to surgeries were classified into three groups based on the results: "remission," "improvement," and "no change."


RESULTS
The indications of surgeries were mass or swelling in 48 patients (100%), intractable pain in 11 (23%), limb length discrepancy in seven (15%), bleeding in three (6%), and limitation of the range of motion in one (2%). The locations of the VMs were head and neck in 17 patients (35%), abdomen and pelvis in one (2%), perineum and genitalia in three (6%), upper extremities in 12 (25%), and lower extremities or buttocks in 15 (31%). Of the 48 surgeries for radical excision and debulking, 25 (52%) resulted in remission, 11 (23%) in improvement, and 12 (25%) in no change. During follow-up (mean: 44.8 ± 36.6 months, range: 0-111 months), recurrence after radical excision occurred in 10% (3 of 31) of the patients, and size increase after debulking surgery in 24% (4 of 17) of the patients.


CONCLUSIONS
Surgical treatment can be an option in patients with VMs, especially with symptoms that cannot be managed with conservative therapy or sclerotherapy. After excisional or debulking surgery in patient with VMs, remission or improvement can be observed in 75%.
Division of Vascular Surgery, Congenital Vascular Malformation Clinic, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Young-Nam
YN
Roh
Young Soo
YS
Do
Kwang Bo
KB
Park
Hong Suk
HS
Park
Young-Wook
YW
Kim
Byung-Boong
BB
Lee
Jai-Kyong
JK
Pyon
So-Young
SY
Lim
Goo-Hyun
GH
Mun
Dong-Ik
DI
Kim
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004621:Embolization, Therapeutic; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012008:Recurrence; D056910:Republic of Korea; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015911:Sclerotherapy; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D054079:Vascular Malformations / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000601:surgery*; D014656:Vascular Surgical Procedures / Q000009:adverse effects; D014680:Veins / Q000002:abnormalities / Q000601:surgery*; D055815:Young Adult