目的：婴幼儿血管瘤的发病机制尚不清楚，目前已知血管内皮细胞生长因子(VEGF)与血管内皮细胞增殖有密切关系。本文探讨VEGF在血管瘤发生发展中的作用。方法：采用免疫组织化学方法，对临床收集的90例手术切除的新鲜血管病变标本(血管瘤56例，血管畸形34例，其中增生期血管瘤32例，消退期血管瘤24例)，进行VEGF及其受体(VEGFR/KDR)和增殖细胞核抗原(PCNA)表达水平的检测。结果：VEGF，VEGFR和PCNA表达水平在增生期血管瘤明显升高，与消退期血管瘤、血管畸形和正常皮肤比较差异有显著性(P<0.01)。而消退期血管瘤、正常皮肤及血管畸形的VEGF，VEGFR和PCNA表达差异无显著性(P>0.01)。结论：VEGF和VEGFR可能促进血管瘤的生长，增生期血管瘤血管内皮细胞增生活跃。VEGF，VEGFR和PCNA的检测有利于临床鉴别诊断血管瘤及血管畸形，并对血管瘤进行分期。

OBJECTIVE: The mechanism of infantile hemangioma is not clearly understood and some research has shown that vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is closely related to the vascular endothelial cell proliferation. This paper aims at probing into the role of VEGF in the development of infantile hemangioma. METHODS: Ninety specimens from congenital vascular disorders of skin were studied. Fifty six were from hemangioma (32 hemangiomas in the proliferating phase and 24 ones in the involuting phase) and 34 were from vascular malformation. VEGF, receptor of VEGF (VEGFR/KDR) and proliferation cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) were detected by immuohistochemical method. RESULTS: The levels of expression of VEGF, VEGFR/KDR and PCNA in proliferating hemangioma were higher than those in involuting hemangioma, vascular malformation and normal tissue (P< 0.01 ), and there were no significant differences among the latter three tissues. CONCLUSIONS: VEGF and VEGFR may promote the growth of hemangioma. The detection of VEGF, VEGFR/KDR and PCNA may be useful in clinical differential diagnosis between hemangioma and vascular malformation.