Observation:
Haemagioma is the commonest vascular tumour in infancy. Although not obvious at birth, haemagiomas usually appear within the first two to four weeks of life. They go through phases of proliferation and involution. Most haemangiomas do not require treatment, some however do. Treatment may be in form of parenteral steroid, interferon, vincristine, Imiquimod, surgical resection and laser therapy. Of recent propranolol was discovered serendipitously to be effective. It was found to induce accelerated involution of haemagiomas without significant side effects. Since that initial report by Leatue-Labreze et al in 2008, there has been an outburst of case reports and case series describing its excellent efficacy.
We present here 3 African children with haemangiomas that were given propranolol with impressive outcome.
Keywords: infantile haemangioma, propranolol, vascular tumour