What Is Hemangiopericytoma?

Hemangiopericytoma (HPC), also known as hemangiopericytoma, is a rare soft tissue tumor derived from peripheral cells outside the capillary wall. Most are single shots. Most of the middle-aged people, no gender differences, occur in the lower limbs, posterior peritoneum and pelvis, and can also occur in the head and neck, trunk, upper limb soft tissue, internal organs and nervous system. The rate of misdiagnosis of this disease is high, and the diagnosis mainly depends on histopathological examination.

Basic Information

nickname

Hemangiopericytoma

English name

angiopericytoma

Visiting department

Vascular surgery

Common locations

Limbs skin, subcutaneous tissue and fascia, muscles

Common causes

May be related to trauma, long-term use of corticosteroids, pregnancy and hypertension

Common symptoms

Compression symptoms

Etiology of Perivascular Hemangiomas

The etiology is unknown and may be related to trauma, long-term use of corticosteroids, pregnancy and hypertension.

Clinical manifestations of hemangiopericytoma

The main symptoms are compression. Common parts are the skin, subcutaneous tissue, fascia, and muscles of the extremities. Clinically similar lipomas can invade the underlying tissues, in addition to subcutaneous tissues and muscles, and can also invade the epidural, paraspinal and retroperitoneal cavity of the pelvis. Skin lesions are red with large indurated plaques or nodules. In general, small and superficial tumors confined to the skin and subcutaneous tissue have a good prognosis, while large and deep tumors have a poor prognosis. The disease has malignant potential and is easy to recur and metastasize. The common metastatic sites are bone, lung, and liver.

Periangioma

Histopathology: Perivascular cells can be divided into benign, borderline and malignant types based on histological characteristics. The benign type does not metastasize, it is an obvious vascular type, mainly spindle-shaped pericytes, without mitosis. The boundary type is more than the benign type tumor cells. The cells are piled up, and the variability is not obvious. Sometimes mitosis is seen, the lumen of the blood vessel is often compressed and the outline is not clear. Malignant tumors vary greatly in their degree of cell variability, with mitotic numbers varying.

Periangioma diagnosis

It is difficult to diagnose before surgery and mainly depends on histopathological examination.

Hemangiopericytoma Differential Diagnosis

The disease is easily misdiagnosed as hemangiomas in the extremities and gliomas and meningiomas in the skull.

Perivascular Hemangioma Treatment

Complete surgical resection is the first choice for HPC. Long-term follow-up is required after surgery. Preoperative radiotherapy can reduce tumor volume. The effects of postoperative radiotherapy and adjuvant chemotherapy are uncertain.