Vascular Anomalies Center

The VAC offers a wide range of services:

• The latest diagnostic and treatment approaches, many of which were pioneered by our staff
• Comprehensive consultation services to physicians and families worldwide, including referrals to local medical centers and physicians when appropriate
• Basic and clinical research aimed at improving the care of all children with these disorders
• Support for you and your family through one-on-one consultation with physicians

The Children's Hospital Boston VAC is often regarded as the premier center for the treatment of people with vascular anomalies. Many of our physicians are internationally renowned for their expertise and innovations within this highly specialized field.

• All of our physicians hold faculty appointments at Harvard Medical School.
   
• The Center holds three interdisciplinary clinics each month. This allows patients to be seen by more than one specialist during the same visit, and allows physicians to share assessments and concerns with one another and with patients and families.
   
• VAC conducts research that may lead to the development of new, more effective therapies and perhaps ultimately result in ways to prevent these anomalies, including:
  • Isolating a stem cell that seems to be the primary cause of infantile hemangioma.
  • First to use interferon alpha in the treatment of children with life- or vision-threatening hemangiomas.
  • One of our physicians described a simple technique to reduce scarring when removing a hemangioma.
  • Another physician developed innovative techniques to control intestinal bleeding caused by certain colorectal vascular malformations.

Experts from 25 specialties at Children's meet each week to review medical histories, photographs, radiographic images and pathology slides of patients referred to them from around the world. Based on this information, the team provides diagnoses and treatment recommendations, and answers specific questions posed to them by physicians and families.

Researchers at Children's have isolated a stem cell that seems to be the primary cause of infantile hemangiomas, which may lead to the ability to accelerate its disappearance, or prevent its growth in the first place.