Vascular Tumor

Overview

Vascular Tumors display a range of seriousness from non-neoplastic lesions to benign and malignant neoplasms. With a few exceptions the cell of origin is the endothelial cell and nearly all neoplasms are derived from small vessels. In general, non-neoplastic lesions and benign neoplasms tend to form recognizable, fluid or blood-filled vessels whereas malignant neoplasms tend to form solid masses of highly deranged cells.

Terminology

A few terms are worth clarifying prior to a discussion of individual diseases
Ectasias are not true neoplasms but just localized dilations of pre-existing blood vessels
Telangiactasias are a subtype of ectasias which produce localized, red lesions usually in the skin and mucous membranes
Reactive Vascular Proliferations are non-neoplastic proliferations of blood vessels in response to infection by certain microbes.