Introduction
Hemangiomas are benign vascular tumors that originate from either endothelial cells lining the vessels or pericytes that are found outside the vascular wall.1 They consist of multiple anastomosing vessels lined by a single layer of endothelium. Hemangiomas are named ‘capillary’ when they are composed of small size capillary vessels, and ‘cavernous’ if they consist of large anastomosing vascular spaces (‘caverns’).1–5 They rarely occur in the uterus and the exact incidence of uterine hemangioma is unknown. Hemangioma can be found at all levels of the uterine wall, although most cases involve the myometrium.6 The lesion has been described in various age groups and is known to have many heterogenous clinical presentations, commonly reported in the context of obstetric complications.1–3
Current literature on uterine hemangioma in pregnancy mainly consists of case reports. The hormonal and physical changes of pregnancy have been proposed to affect these pre-existing lesions. The most reported complication is peripartum hemorrhage which can be life-threatening.2,7 Diagnosis is often made on hysterectomy specimens or more recently through antepartum imaging, by ultrasound (US) and/or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).8
Herein we present a recent case in our tertiary care center followed by a systematic review of all published uterine hemangioma cases in pregnant women.