Cavernous Hemangioma of the Tongue

Hemangioma is a benign tumor of dilated blood vessels. It is most commonly seen in the head and neck region and rarely in the oral cavity. Hemangiomas in the oral cavity are always of clinical importance and require appropriate treatment. We report here a case of a 34-year-old female patient with a swelling on the lateral surface of tongue which did not respond to the sclerosing agent and was finally confirmed as cavernous hemangioma on histological evaluation. 1. Introduction Hemangioma (Greek: Haima-blood; angeion vessel, omatumor) by definition can be defined as “a benign tumor of dilated blood vessels.” Hemangioma of head and neck appear a few weeks after birth and they grow rapidly. It is also known as port-wine stain, strawberry hemangioma, and Salmon patch. They are characterized by hyperplasia of blood vessels, usually veins and capillaries, in a focal area of submucosal connective tissue. It is almost never encapsulated. Whether this condition is a neoplastic or reactive state is uncertain; a reactive cause is favored. Few of the reactive causes are, namely, hormonal changes, infections, and trauma. Clinically they may manifest as firm, pulsatile, warm masses and the venous malformations appear first in early childhood and clinically manifest as soft and easily compressible mass. According to the classification given by Mulliken and Glovacki in 1982, are divided the vascular deformities, into 2 groups: hemangiomas and the vascular malformations. The hemangiomas can also be classified depending on the vessel type involved or flow types such as the arterial and arteriovenous (high flow) type, capillary or venous (low flow) type [1]. This paper describes a case of a female patient who had a growth on her lateral border of the tongue which was diagnosed as cavernous hemangioma. 2. Case History A 34-year-old female patient reported to the Department of Periodontology, Rajarajeswari Dental College and Hospital, Bangalore, India, with the chief complaint of swelling on the lateral surface of the tongue. The patient gave a history of trauma at the same site 10 years back. There was no history of associated pain or bleeding from the site. On general examination, the patient was normally built for her age with no defect in stature or gait. No relevant medical history was observed. On intraoral examination, there was a growth measuring about 1.5？cm × 1.5？cm, which was red in colour with a bluish hue present at the left lateral surface of the tongue which appeared to be sessile with no underlying attachment or relation with the muscles (Figure 1). The