Stop Calling Me Cavernous Hemangioma! A Literature Review on Misdiagnosed Bony Vascular Anomalies

Vascular malformations of the bone most often involve the cranio-facial area. Even in relevant peer reviewed journals, venous malformations are often misdiagnosed as “hemangiomas” or “angiomas” of the bone. By reviewing literature from the past 5 years (2013–2018), we found many reports of vascular malformations of the bone where the diagnosis was incorrect. Unfortunately, there is still much confusion in understanding and/or diagnosing vascular malformations, despite the fact that in recent years many papers tried to clarify this topic. The purpose of this article is to make a review of the scientific literature concerning vascular malformations of the bone which have been reported as angioma, hemangioma, or hemangioendothelioma, and have been published between January 2013 to October 2018. Clinical features, imaging and histologic reports contained in the papers were reviewed. Subsequently, after reviewing every single paper we reclassified the diagnosis according to the 2018 ISSVA classification. Almost all of the vascular anomalies presented in the reviewed papers as angiomas, hemangiomas, or hemangioendotheliomas were venous (mostly) or arteriovenous malformations. Therefore, only 8 out of 58 papers (14.7%) had an accurate diagnosis. Interestingly, all of the papers reporting cavernous or capillary hemangiomas were actually presenting venous malformations. Making a correct diagnosis is of primary importance because depending on the type of vascular anomaly, the treatment and the prognosis for the patient are very different. Everyone who approaches or describes a vascular anomaly of the bone should know and should adopt a correct and updated nosography.