Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Malaysian Family Physician : the Official Journal of the Academy of Family Physicians of Malaysia logoLink to Malaysian Family Physician : the Official Journal of the Academy of Family Physicians of Malaysia
. 2014 Apr 30;9(1):35–36.

A pulsating mass in the pre-auricular region

I Mohamad 1,✉, MAF Khalid 2, AH Abdul Karim 3
PMCID: PMC4265971  PMID: 25606298

Case summary

A 75-year-old lady presented with right pre-auricular swelling, which gradually increased in size during the past 13 years. However, in the last 2 years, she noticed the presence of pulsation. The swelling was painless and there was no history of bleeding or abscess formation. On examination, the swelling was observed in the right pre-auricular region measuring about 5x6x2 cm with well-defined margin (Figure 1). It was a pulsatile swelling with bluish discolouration of skin. There was no tenderness.

Figure 1.

Figure 1.

Open in a new tab

A pulsating mass was noted at the pre-auricular region

Questions

  1. What is your diagnosis?

  2. What is the investigation of choice?

  3. Is any particular investigation that is contraindicated?

  4. What are the treatment options?

Answers

  1. As the mass is pulsatile, a vascular malformation must be suspected. Besides haemangioma, the differential diagnoses include pseudoaneurysm of the superficial temporal artery and arteriovenous fistula. If the mass is not pulsatile, lipoma or parotid mass should be considered.

  2. Investigations should be confined to clinical and imaging studies (CT scan and MRI). In this case, she has undergone a contrast enhanced CT (Figure 2). Angiograms are performed for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes, especially when embolisation is planned. There was a right temporal scalp haemangioma, which has a systemic supply from the superficial temporal artery of right external carotid artery. MRI is the most valuable imaging tool (suspected vascular anomalies) for confirming the diagnosis of and determining the extent of the lesion as well as guiding the treatment plan.1 MRI is able to assess the extension of the vascular malformation up to the adjacent soft tissue and the morphology and content of the lesion.

  3. Fine needle aspiration for cytology and open biopsy should not be requested for a suspected vascular lesion.2 Apart from bleeding during the procedure, the aspirated material from FNAC is of little diagnostic value as it would mostly contain blood cells.

  4. Haemangiomata are treated based on individual case either with corticosteroid (intralesional or systemic) or with surgery (open or laser).3 Propanolol has been shown to have some regressing effect on haemangioma.4 It seemed to be effective in treating haemangiomata in children with high response rate.5 However, it is usually not effective in adult patients. It is suggested that propanolol acts by inhibiting angiogenesis via down-regulating the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor in haemangioma-derived stem cells.6 Haemangioma with such dimension in the index case usually requires surgical excision or embolisation. If excision is planned and the haemangioma is huge and has no specific feeder vessel, preoperative embolisation can be performed to reduce bleeding intraoperatively. Current non-invasive treatment may include percutaneous sclerosant therapy by using sclerosant agents such as alcohol or bleomycin. Intralesional bleomycin injection, for example, is shown to be effective in obviating primary surgery or systemic treatment regimens in 80% of haemangiomata and vascular malformation lesions.1 Sometimes, some haemangiomata may undergo spontaneous regression especially in children.3

Figure 2.

Figure 2.

Open in a new tab

The mass as depicted on axial cut of the contrast-enhanced CT scan

Contributor Information

I Mohamad, Department of Otorhinolaryngology– Head & Neck Surgery, School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia Health Campus; 16150 Kota Bharu, Kelantan, Malaysia, Email: irfankb@usm.my.

MAF Khalid, Department of Otorhinolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery, School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia Health Campus; Kelantan, Malaysia.

AH Abdul Karim, Department of Radiology, School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia Health Campus; Kelantan, Malaysia.

References

  • 1.Muir T, Kirsten M, Fourie P. et al. Intralesional bleomycin injection (IBI) treatment for haemangiomas and congenital vascular malformations. Pediatr Surg Int. 2004;19(12):766–73. doi: 10.1007/s00383-003-1058-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 2.Mohamad I, Nik Hassan NFH. Upper lateral neck swelling: Rare but important differential diagnosis. Ann Acad Med Singapore. 2013;42(8):422–3. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 3.Marler JJ, Mulliken JB. Current management of hemangiomas and vascular malformations. Clin Plast Surg. 2005;32(1):99–116. doi: 10.1016/j.cps.2004.10.001. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 4.Richter GT, Friedman AB. Hemangiomas and vascular malformations: Current theory and management . Int J Pediatr. 2012:645–78. doi: 10.1155/2012/645678. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 5.Albuquerque JC, Magalhaes RA, Felix JA. et al. Treatment of children and adolescents with heamngioma using propanolol: preliminary results from a retrospective study. Sao Paulo Med J. 2014;132(1):48–54. doi: 10.1590/1516-3180.2014.1321575. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 6.Zhang L, Mai HM, Zheng J. et al. Propanolol inhibits angiogenesis via down regulating the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor in hemangioma derived stem cell. Int J Clin Exp Pathol. 2013;7(1):48–55. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Malaysian Family Physician : the Official Journal of the Academy of Family Physicians of Malaysia are provided here courtesy of Academy of Family Physicians of Malaysia

RESOURCES