Prenatal Diagnosis of Lymphangiomas at Unusual Locations: Report of Three Cases

Lymphangioma is a type of developmental abnormality of the lymphoid system that occurs at the site of lymphatic-venous connections. In most cases, lymphangiomas are located in the posterior neck and head as cystic hygroma colli, which are frequently associated with chromosomal abnormalities and various malformation syndromes. Lymphangiomas at locations other than the posterior neck and head are rarely seen. We report the prenatal diagnosis of two cases of intrauterine axillary lymphangiomas and one case of an intraabdominal lymphangioma. The sonographic appearance of these lymphangiomas was a thin-walled, multilocular cyst located in the axillary area or the pelvis. The karyotypes of these babies were normal. One of the babies did well after surgery; one had neurologic sequelae, and one later developed a lymphangioma in the skull. The prognoses of these babies seemed to be better than those with cervical lymphangiomas. However, we are unable to draw any definite conclusions because of the limited number of cases. More investigations should be conducted in the future