immunohistochemical analysis of oral spindle cell hemangioma

Spindle cell hemangioma (sch), formerly called “spindle cell hemangioendothelioma”, is a rare benign histological variant of hemangioma characterized by the presence of two contrast zones, the first zone exhibits large dilated cavernous space with slit-like vascular spaces may show clear endothelial vacuoles resembling fat cells. sch is often considered as pseudosarcomatous entity; it imposes a diagnostic challenge for oral pathologists due to its resemblance with kaposi sarcoma. a total of 13 cases of sch have been reported in the head and neck region to date and only 6 cases have been reported inside the oral cavity. we present a rare case of sch located on the hard palate, which imitated kaposi’s sarcoma on histopathological examination. the expressions of various markers including egr, cd 31, and hhv 8 yielded the final diagnosis of sch. the markers egr and hhv 8 have never been used in intraoral sch before to the best of our knowledge; hence, the present report highlights the use of immunohistochemistry for the diagnosis of sch.