Blue Rubber Bleb Nevus Syndrome: Case Report and Review of the Literature

In 1860 Gascoyen1 reported the association of cutaneous and intestinal lesions with gastrointestinal bleeding in a man with anemia and numerous cavernous hemangiomas of the skin. This association did not receive much clinical attention until 1958, almost a century later, when William Bennet Bean described a condition with similar findings and coined the term "blue rubber bleb nevus syndrome" (BRBNS), a name that seems aptly chosen because the "cutaneous hemangiomas have the feel and look of rubber nipples.2" The syndrome is usually present from birth or early childhood, but adult presentations have also been reported.3 The pathogenesis of this condition is unknown.