Vascular anomalies of the head and neck in children

Sixty percent of vascular anomalies in children are found in the head and neck. These lesions can present throughout antenatal, perinatal and childhood development. They broadly fall into two categories: vascular tumours and vascular malformations. Their clinical and, often, psychological impact is determined by both pathological type and location: many lesions follow an uncomplicated natural course and other more complex, extensive or progressive lesions can present a threat to life from mass effect, haemorrhage or large volume arteriovenous shunting. Vascular tumours include infantile haemangioma (IH), congenital haemangioma (CH) and kaposiform hemangioendothelioma (KH); of which IH is the most common. Management options for vascular tumours include conservative approaches, oral medications and surgical intervention as determined by tumour type, location and associated complications. Vascular malformations can be categorised into low flow and high flow lesions. Low flow lesions include capillary, venous and lymphatic malformations (LMs). High flow lesions describe the arteriovenous malformations (AVMs), a highly heterogeneous group of lesions which can present in a variety of ways—the mainstay of treatment for these dynamic lesions is endovascular or surgical obliteration. We provide a practical framework for clinical classification of vascular anomalies of the head and neck in children. We also explore principles of their clinical and radiological assessment along with management, highlighting the importance of a multi-disciplinary approach.