Abstract
Infantile hemangiomas (IH) are the most common vascular tumors of childhood, affecting 2–10 % of all infants. Although most lesions proliferate and then involute with minimal consequence, a significant minority can be disfiguring, functionally significant, or, rarely, life-threatening.
Recent discoveries concerning hemangioma pathogenesis provide both an improved understanding and more optimal approach to workup and management. Standards of care have dramatically changed evaluation and management of IH.
New modalities, such as oral and topical propranolol, provide better therapeutic options, but the side effect profile and risk-benefit ratio of such interventions must always be evaluated before instituting therapy. The use of systemic propranolol therapy is not without risks and its use has been reported to be associated with hypotension, bradycardia, bronchospasm, hypoglycemia and hypothermia.
In the end of the article the authors present their own experience with the systemic and topical propranolol therapy. Propranolol hydrochloride is available as a certified compound of pharmacopoieal quality in the Czech Republic and therefore compounding of the oral propranolol solution is feasible.
Propranolol cream was prepared specifically for a topical treatment of mild IH.