Surgical treatment of hemangiomas of soft tissue

Hemangioma is one of the most common soft tissue tumors comprising 7% of all benign tumors. The etiology is unclear. Many treatment modalities for the symptomatic deep subdermal or intramuscular hemangioma have been used, but surgical excision is the preferred treatment. During the past 20 years, 89 patients with soft tissue hemangiomas were treated by surgical excision at the authors' institution. This study was done to define the clinical characteristics of pathologically proven hemangiomas and to evaluate the outcome of the operative procedures. Intralesional or marginal excision for symptomatic hemangiomas yields satisfactory results for pain relief, functional recovery, and avoidance of recurrence. According to the data a hemangioma of the soft tissues is a benign lesion in which more aggressive surgery (wide or radical excision) or other modalities such as radiation usually are not warranted.