Background: The aim of this work was to study some morphologic and histochemical characteristics of the wall of blood vessels in the hemangioma of the head and/or face. This disease represents a most frequent vascular pathology, consisting of an embryonic display involving the cranial-facial vascular network.
Methods: The clinical characteristics of head-facial hemangioma were studied in 28 individuals (9 males and 19 females) admitted in our hospital. Some of these patients (n = 16) were subjected to the surgical therapy for the removal of the hemangioma. During surgical therapy, all the removed tissues were transferred in our experimental laboratories for the staining of microanatomic details and for immune-chemical demonstration of some specific substances enclosed in the wall of the hemangioma vessels (proteoglycans, collagen type IV, and laminin). All results were submitted to the quantitative analysis of images and statistical evaluation of the data.