P22 Life-threatening bleeding is a serious potential complication of ulcerated congenital haemangiomas: three case reports

Abstract

Abstract Congenital haemangiomas (CH) are rare vascular tumours that can be complicated by high-output heart failure (HOHF), transient thrombocytopaenia and ulceration. We present three patients who had life-threatening bleeding from the ulcerated CH, which was fatal for one of the patients. The first patient was born with a large CH of his left thigh, causing thrombocytopaenia and HOHF, requiring ventilation. He was discharged home after 3 weeks, but subsequently developed an ulceration and had a profuse bleeding following a dressing change at home. He required admission to PICU and ventilation support. The second patient was born with a large segmental CH of his right scalp with two ulcerated areas, without HOHF or thrombocytopaenia. He developed a massive bleeding from the ulcerated area at 6 weeks of age, was admitted to PICU with cardiac arrest, but died a few hours later due to multiorgan failure. The third patient was born at 29 weeks’ gestation with a large CH of her right thigh which was ulcerated. She had a profuse arterial bleeding after the dressing was removed in the hospital, requiring emergency surgery and admission to PICU. Although it is a rare complication, neonates/infants with ulcerated CH are at risk for severe, life-threatening arterial bleeding. If an ulceration is present, it needs to be protected with a suitable dressing, until it heals completely. Parents need to be educated on appropriate dressing changing technique, have the support of local tissue viability nurses and learn basic CPR techniques should arterial bleeding occur and necessitate CPR.