Blood sponge in young children | Blood sponge

Blood sponge in young children

Most blood sponges occur immediately after birth or are congenital. Only very few forms develop after the 3rd decade of life. Contrary to many rumours, the appearance of haemangioma cannot be caused by the behaviour of the mother or the child.

It is often mistakenly believed that events during pregnancy or birth lead to haematopoietic sponges in the baby. However, this is not the case. Mothers should therefore not blame themselves if a baby has a haematopoietic sponge.

About 3-5% of all newborns have a blood sponge. Premature babies seem to be affected about 10 times more frequently than those born at maturity. The reasons for this have not yet been clarified.

Blood sponges usually show a growth tendency within the first year of life. Their size varies greatly from child to child and cannot be predicted. By the age of 10, most haemangioma sponges regress and disappear.

Due to this tendency to self-healing, a wait-and-see attitude can be taken in many cases. Blood sponges as such do not cause any discomfort to the baby. Under mechanical stress they can bleed or hurt.

Depending on the situation, some haemangioma sponges require treatment. This is the case, for example, if they grow very deeply and thus impair or displace important structures. These include large haemangioma near the eyes and the eye socket.

Various methods of therapy are available, such as laser, cryogenic or surgical therapy. Recently, drug treatment with the beta-blocker propanolol, which can stop the growth of some blood sponges, has also become possible. Blood sponges rarely also occur in the brain.

There they are called cerebral cavernomas. The information about the frequency of cerebral cavernomas varies greatly in the literature, making it difficult to make an exact statement. The frequency is probably somewhere between 0.7 and 4% of the population.

They consist of a network of dilated capillary vessels surrounded by a capsule. These vessels are also called caverns. Most cavernomas occur without apparent causes, but some are inherited.

About 80% of brain cavernomas are located in one of the two cerebral hemispheres, about 15% are found in the cerebellum and brain stem. Only about half of the cavernomas cause symptoms and thus appear clinically. In most cases, the findings are accidental.

Cavernomas can cause a wide variety of symptoms. These depend mainly on the location of the cavernomas. Epileptic seizures or even paralysis can occur.

The paralysis symptoms affect different parts of the body depending on the location of the cavernoma. Cavernomas are usually discovered during an MRT or CT examination of the head. Cerebral cavernomas that are symptomatic are surgically removed, if possible.

In case of asymptomatic findings, a rather wait-and-see attitude is adopted. The face is a common location for congenital haematopoietic sponges. The distribution in the face can be quite different, as can the size.

Since most haemangioma sponges disappear by themselves by the age of 10, treatment is not always necessary. Especially flat haemangioma sponges that do not grow deep into the skin do not pose a problem. Only a cosmetic impairment can exist due to the good visibility in the face.

Removal makes sense if the blood sponge does not show a tendency to heal itself, but continues to grow. There are also blood sponges of the face, which represent a health impairment. These include above all blood sponges that grow strongly in depth.

This can become a problem especially near important structures such as the nose or eyes. Large blood sponges of the eyelids or eye sockets obstruct vision and can cause disorders such as strabismus or double vision. At the nose, there is a risk of obstructing breathing or deforming the nose.

Blood sponges from the lips or mouth are also potentially problematic if they interfere with food intake or speech. Especially in these cases a therapy is very useful. Which method is best suited is decided on a case by case basis.

Blood sponges rarely occur in the brain as well. There they are called cerebral cavernomas. The information on the frequency of cerebral cavernomas varies greatly in the literature, making it difficult to make an exact statement.

The frequency is probably somewhere between 0.7 and 4% of the population. They consist of a network of dilated capillary vessels surrounded by a capsule. These vessels are also called caverns.

Most cavernomas occur without apparent causes, but some are inherited. About 80% of brain cavernomas are located in one of the two cerebral hemispheres, about 15% are found in the cerebellum and brain stem. Only about half of the cavernomas cause symptoms and thus appear clinically.

In most cases, the findings are accidental. Cavernomas can cause a wide variety of symptoms. These depend mainly on the location of the cavernomas.

Epileptic seizures or even paralysis can occur. The paralysis symptoms affect different parts of the body depending on the location of the cavernoma. Cavernomas are usually discovered during an MRT or CT examination of the head.

Cerebral cavernomas that are symptomatic are surgically removed, if possible. In case of asymptomatic findings, a rather wait-and-see attitude is adopted. Blood sponges can also occur in the spinal column – more precisely in the spinal cord – but they are very rare there.

They are called cavernomas. Why cavernomas occur in some people and not in others is largely unexplained. Hereditary factors seem to play a role in this context.

In the spinal cord, cavernomas can lead to symptoms such as paralysis, pain or sensitivity disorders. They are usually discovered by chance during a CT or MRI examination. Often they do not cause any symptoms at all.

The nature of the symptoms of a blood sponge in the spinal column depends on its exact location. The symptoms are caused by the fact that the blood sponge presses on nerve fibres. In certain cases, surgical removal is possible and necessary, for example when paralysis occurs.

However, cavernomas that do not cause any complaints do not require acute treatment. Although haemangioma on the testicles are rather rare, they do occur from time to time. In principle, they are no cause for concern.

Since haemangioma are benign malformations of the vessels, they do not pose an acute health risk. If a child has a blood sponge on its testicles, it can first be waited to see if it disappears on its own after a while. However, a doctor’s examination is useful in order to assess how far the blood sponge grows into the depths.

Very deep blood sponges can cause damage and therefore removal is usually advisable in such cases. The parents and the treating physician then decide together which procedure is most suitable.