title: An interdisciplinary specialist team leads to improved diagnostics and treatment for paediatric patients with vascular anomalies.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Patients with vascular anomalies are often misdiagnosed, leading to delayed or improper treatment. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of an interdisciplinary team on the diagnosis and treatment of paediatric patients with vascular anomalies.
  
  
  METHODS
  We reviewed the paediatric patients evaluated by our interdisciplinary team between 2002 and 2012, analysing the referral diagnosis, final diagnosis, patient age, sex, clinical history, laboratory tests, imaging studies and treatments.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 480 patients who were evaluated, 435 (90.6%) had a vascular anomaly: 30.7% of all patients had a tumour and 55.2% had a malformation. Haemangiomas comprised 93.2% of all tumours, while malformations included capillary (9.8%), lymphatic (30.1%), venous (36.8%), arteriovenous (3.8%) and combined slow-flow (7.9%) malformations. Tumours were initially diagnosed correctly in 89.2% of the patients, but only 38.0% of the malformations were diagnosed correctly. Improper treatment was given to 1.4%, due to incorrect diagnoses.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study showed that haemangiomas were likely to be diagnosed correctly, but other tumours and vascular malformations were likely to be misdiagnosed. Misdiagnosis seldom led to improper treatment, but probably led to delayed treatment in many cases. The interdisciplinary approach led to improved diagnostics and treatment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatric Surgery, Children's Hospital, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Katariina A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Mattila
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatric Surgery, Children's Hospital, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Kaisa
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kervinen
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, HUS Medical Imaging Centre, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Teija
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kalajoki-Helmiö
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, HUS Medical Imaging Centre, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Kimmo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lappalainen
authors.affiliation: Department of Plastic Surgery, Helsinki University Hospital and University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Pia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Vuola
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, HUSLAB, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Jouko
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lohi
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatric Surgery, Children's Hospital, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Risto J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Rintala
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Finland.|The College of Medicine, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar.
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pitkäranta
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatric Surgery, Children's Hospital, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Päivi
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Salminen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D010348:Patient Care Team; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D054079:Vascular Malformations / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Diagnostics; Haemangiomas; Interdisciplinary; Paediatric; Vascular anomalies