Our complicated hemangiomas cases and propranolol therapy

Purpose: Hemangiomas develop from proliferation of vascular endothelial cells and are most common benign tumors in childhood that usually don’t require any treatment. Most common treatment indications are usually rapid growth, esthetic problems, airway obstructions and recurrent massive bleeding. Interferon alpha, vincritsine, cyclophosphamide and corticosteroids are being used for treatment for years. In recent studies non-selective beta blockers (propranolol) are reported to be a good alternative in treatment. We want to report the results of propranolol treatment in children admitted to our hospital that have complicated hemangiomas. Materials and methods: We compared the results of 3 girls and 5 boys, total of 8 patients, aged from 13 months to 16 years that admitted to Pediatrics and Pediatric Surgery departments and diagnosed with complicated hemangiomas between the dates January 2012 and August 2014 retrospectively. We started patients on 0.5 mg/kg/day oral propranolol treatment. All patients’ echocardiographies were seen before starting treatment and all were normal. Patients were admitted to hospital for 72 hours and monitored for vital parameters, blood pressure and blood glucose levels and propranolol dosage was increased to 2 mg/kg/day. Propranolol treatment continued for 6 months and 7 of 8 patients had near complete remission at the end of the treatment. Results: We found that there was near complete remission in 7 patients diagnosed with hemangiomas after propranolol treatment. Conclusion: We wanted to state that propranolol treatment can be a good alternative first choice treatment in hemangiomas instead of surgery and other medical treatments that have severe side effects like corticosteroids.