Assessment of Oral Propranolol Administration for Infantile Hemangioma in Oral and Maxillofacial Region Aided by Ultrasonography

Background: Propranolol has become the first-line therapy for the treatment of complicated infantile hemangioma. However, there are still many queries regarding the hemangioma volume in relation to drug's dose and duration. Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the therapeutic effect of oral propranolol for treating infantile hemangiomas in the oral and maxillofacial region aided by gray scale ultrasonography (GSU). Materials and Methods: Twelve patients with infantile hemangioma, age ranged between 2 and 11 months, have been treated with oral propranolol for 6 months' period. They received a dose of 1 mg/kg per body weight per day, increased after 1 week to 2 mg/kg per body weight per day maintenance for 24 weeks. The changes in tumor sizes were evaluated by ultrasonography (GSU) using 4-points scale system: excellent, good, fair, poor) Results: All infants less than 6 months of age showed more hemangiomas regression in size in comparison with of those aged >6 months (P value 0.042) as a rapid response. After the 24th week; 5 patients had excellent results, 4 patients had good results, 2 patients had fair results, and only 1 patient had poor results. None of the treated infants showed rebound phenomena after cessation of treatment. Conclusion: Oral propranolol at dose of 2 mg/kg/day in 2 divided doses for 24 weeks aided by GSU is shown to be a safe and effective treatment of infantile hemangioma during the proliferative phase.