Treatment of complex infantile haemangioma in a resource-poor setting

Abstract

Infantile haemangiomas affect approximately 5% of the population and usually do not require treatment. However, complex cutaneous haemangiomas can cause disabling disfigurement, while haemangiomas in the brain, airway or gastrointestinal tract can cause life-threatening complications. Although children with infantile haemangiomas are often first brought to general practitioners and paediatricians by parents for care, they are thought of as a surgical problem and usually referred to specialty care. We present a case of an infant from a resource-poor setting in rural Indonesia with disfiguring facial haemangiomas, as well as a probable airway haemangioma causing stridor at rest. The infant was treated with oral propranolol with marked involution of the cutaneous haemangioma, resolution of stridor and increase in weight. Copyright 2014 BMJ Publishing Group. All rights reserved.