Vascular Birthmarks

Congenital vascular malformations, or birthmarks, are the most common benign tumour in infancy. They affect on average 10 % of all infants and the incidence is especially high among premature babies. They are rarely life-threatening, but cause much distress to both patients and their parents. Despite this, birthmarks are poorly understood and often mismanaged. This is partly because patients may be treated in turn by family practitioners, dermatologists, paediatricians, plastic surgeons, radiologists, and orthopaedic surgeons, but the knowledge and experience gained by these individual specialists has been poorly disseminated. Confusion over nomenclature has sometimes resulted in mis-diagnosis and inappropriate treatment. This is the first book to bring together up-to-date information from all the specialties involved in the management of birthmarks, and to provide a thorough description of their classification. The book shows how recent advances in vascular res earch can be applied to diagnosis and to therapy - including laser coagulation, crysurgery, and localized embolization.