Intramuscular Hemangioma: A Rare Cause of Omalgia

Abstract Intramuscular hemangiomas (IHs) are benign soft-tissue tumors that represent less than 1% of all hemangiomas. This clinical entity is rarely considered as a differential diagnosis in cases of musculoskeletal pain. A healthy 38-year-old woman presented to our office with complaint of left om...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Pedro M. Guedes, Nuno A. Saldanha, Pedro M. Matos, Francisco S. Carvalho, Graça Veiga, Pedro Norton
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Sociedade Brasileira de Ortopedia e Traumatologia 2023-10-01
Series:Revista Brasileira de Ortopedia
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Online Access:http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0102-36162023000400676&lng=en&tlng=en
Description
Summary:Abstract Intramuscular hemangiomas (IHs) are benign soft-tissue tumors that represent less than 1% of all hemangiomas. This clinical entity is rarely considered as a differential diagnosis in cases of musculoskeletal pain. A healthy 38-year-old woman presented to our office with complaint of left omalgia, with 8 months of evolution, limiting her daily activities. She reported the appearance of tumefaction in the previous 4 months. She was medicated with analgesic and antiinflammatory drugs with no clinical improvement. The objective examination showed limitation of left shoulder abduction (0–90°). The patient underwent a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), in which a well-circumscribed nodular formation was detected in the deltoid muscle. Then, she underwent a biopsy, which confirmed the diagnosis of hemangioma. The patient was referred for sclerotherapy. Intramuscular hemangiomas are usually observed in young patients. The gold-standard examination for diagnosis is MRI, which often forestalls the need for a biopsy. In many cases, IHs are asymptomatic and tend to involute over time. Despite the low frequency of this clinical entity, it is important to place it as a diagnostic hypothesis in cases of chronic pain of the limbs in young patients with poor therapeutic response to antiinflammatory drugs and analgesia.
ISSN:1982-4378