Tufted angioma*

©2017 by Anais Brasileiros de Dermatologia Dear Editor, Tufted angioma is a rare vascular tumor, with slow angiomatous proliferation, usually located in the skin and subcutaneous tissue. Its clinical presentation is of a solitary angiomatous tumor, usually located on the neck, upper trunk and extremities. It is more frequent in children, with no sex or racial predilection. The term tufted angioma (TA) is due to the dense agglomerates of endothelial cell lobules and capillaries on histology.1 This is a case report of a seven-year-old female patient with a painful, rapidly growing lesion over the past 3 months on the right flank. On dermatological examination, a hardened angiomatous tumor is present, with irregular surface, its larger diameter measuring approximately 3cm on the right flank (Figure 1). An incisional biopsy was performed, and histopathology revealed epithelial hyperplasia and proliferation of vascular structures in a glomerular pattern, and a “cannonball” pattern of the vessels in the superficial and deep dermis, diagnostic of vascular neoplasia (Figure 2). Immunohistochemistry revealed focally positive CD34 antibody against hematopoietic cells and pericytes clone QBEnd10) and positive CD31 antibody against adhesion CD31 adhesion molecule PECAM-1 (endothelial cells) (clone JC/70A). Cytokeratins 40, 48, 50 e 50,6kDa (clone AEI/ AE3), desmin (muscle cell intermediate filament) (clone D33), protein S-100 (polyclonal clone) and smooth muscle actin (clone 1A4) analysis was negative. In view of the clinical and laboratory findings, the diagnosis of a low-grade vascular proliferation: acquired tufted angioma (angioblastoma of Nakagawa) was made. The le742 Letters