Sally,

It's a cluster of blood vessels. I've got one, too, on my lower spine.

The doctor "says" it doesn't matter.

I've watched a lot of the shows on the different Discovery channels that show them being surgically removed from children's faces. There's one pediatric surgeon who specializes in that.

The concern that *I* have and my doctor didn't really answer me was: if you get an epidural that happens to hit that thing, will you bleed profusely?? I won't let them do an epidural without the fluoroscope.

According to what I saw on Discovery Health, you can bleed to death if you cut or injure one of them.

If I were you, I would make sure that any doctor that is going to do ANY invasive procedure in that area knows about the hemangioma and answers the question "How are you going to keep me safe??". I would NOT have an ESI in that area without a fluoroscope.

Good luck. Hugs.

Barb