Propranolol: A Therapeutic Alternative in Benign Hemangiomas in a General Hospital. Clinical Cases

Introduction: Infantile hemangiomas are the most frequent benign tumors in the pediatric age; they are produced by the proliferation of endothelial cells of blood vessels. They run with two phases; a period of proliferation (in the first 4 and 6 months of age, although it can last up to 18 months) and then one of involution (over the course of the years, which is complete in 50% of childhood hemangiomas at the age of five years-old and 70% at the age of seven years-old). Clinical cases: Seven patients with a clinical diagnosis of benign hemangioma of childhood. The recommended treatment period was nine months. Two cases presented early improvement at the 5th month of treatment and the rest completed the proposed 9th month schedule, observing a clear improvement in the lesions. At the end of the treatment, one patient required cosmetic surgery of the lesion in the right hemithorax, a procedure that was carried out without complications. The other three cases corresponded to: male six month old back injury; female 1 year lesion in the neck and supraciliary region of the left eye; and 2-year-old female with neck injury 1 month of propranolol treatment 2 mg/kg/day. Discussion: The use of propranolol has been a priority for the treatment of childhood hemangiomas, its discovery to induce the regression of a facial infantile hemangioma, was while treating a patient with obstructive cardiomyopathy who was administered propranolol, discovery by the group of Leauté-Lebréze in 2008.