Use of Bleomycin in the Sclerotherapy of Lymphatic Malformations for Pediatric Patients

Lymphatic malformations (LMs) are vascular anomalies that arise from abnormal embryonic development of the lymphatic system and might present as dilated lymphatic channels or cysts lined by lymphatic endothelial cells. With an estimated incidence of approximately 1/4000-1/2000, LMs can occur at any site in the lymphatic system, in which head, neck and axilla were mostly detected and have been reported to account for over 75%. Based on the location and size of the lesion and the extent of involvement, LMs may be asymptomatic with incidental detection, or chronic abdominal pain and distension due to their compression of surrounding structures, or critical and even fatal secondary to their volvulus, hemorrhage, infection and rupture. Surgical excision is a definitive treatment for LMs, while it may be difficult at times because of the infiltrative nature of the lesions, leading to a high incidence of complications like vital organ injuries, nerve injuries, bleeding, infection scar formation, and recurrences. Sclerotherapy is a simpler alternative to tedious surgical excision treatment for LMs and avoids the complications related to surgery. As an anticancer drug extracted from Streptomyces verticillus, Bleomycin has been more and more widely used in the sclerotherapy of LMs for pediatric patients, which has been proven to be primarily dose dependent. However, the optimum concentration of Bleomycin in the sclerotherapy of LMs for pediatric patients has not been strictly validated, due to the lack of high-quality RCT studies. The investigators aim to compare the efficacy and safety of different concentrations of Bleomycin in the sclerotherapy of LMs for pediatric patients.