Giant placental chorioangioma and infantile hemangioma

What is it about?

Placental chorioangioma (CA) is a benign placental tumor.No specific treatment is required for asymptomatic cases.We report a female infant born to a mother with giant placental CA. However fetal growth was normal and, fetal hydrops was not detected by ultrasound examination until delivery, she had hydrops, subgaleal hematoma, thrombocytopenia, hemolytic anemia, respiratory distress and circulatory failure after birth. Shewas successfully treated without any neurological sequelae. At 2 months of age, infantile hemangioma appeared in her lower lip. The present case suggested that giant placental CA might cause postnatal problems and be associated with the development of infantile hemangioma.

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Why is it important?

The present case poses two significant clinical issues. First, in spite of no remarkable abnormality detected in the fetus before delivery, giant placental CA might cause postnatal problems. Second, two major pathophysiological mechanisms of fetal hydrops due to placental CA have been postulated. One is that CA acts as arteriovenous malformation and causes high out-put cardiac failure. The other is that hamartomatous in small capillary-type vessels in the giant CA can cause hemolytic anemia, similar to Kasabach-Merritt syndrome, resulting in chronic in utero hypoxia and fetal growth restriction

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