Congenital Arteriovenous Malformation of Lip - A Case Report

Vascular anomalies are a heterogeneous group of lesions involving vascular channels including the lymphatics. They encompass a wide variety of lesions from simple capillary haemangiomas to angiosarcomas. These lesions most commonly occur as a result of developmental error during embryogenesis due to defective signal process.1 Most of these lesions occur sporadically while a few may be inherited or acquired. Inherited lesions tend to be small and multi-centric which gradually increase its size with age.2 The International Society for the Study of Vascular Anomalies has broadly classified vascular anomalies into 2 groups: 1) Vascular neoplasms and 2) Vascular malformations.3 Vascular malformations are a relatively rare group of lesions involving the endothelium and surrounding tissue of arteries and veins resulting in an abnormal arteriovenous shunting. They are categorised into 4 types: 1) Venous malformation, 2) Capillary malformation, 3) Arteriovenous malformation and 4) Lymphatic malformation. They can occur anywhere in the body from head to toe, but they are most commonly seen in the brain. The most common extra-cranial site for AV malformations is the head and neck and other common sites include limbs, trunk and viscera.4 Here, we a present a rare case of congenital AV malformation of lip in a 49-year-old male.