Oral atenolol compared to oral propranolol for infantile hemangioma

Infantile hemangioma is the most frequent benign vascular tumor in childhood, with an incidence of 3 to 10%. When patients require treatment, oral propranolol, a non-selective lipophilic beta-blocker, is usually considered the therapy of choice. However, its use has been associated with several adverse events related to its β-2 action and its ability to cross the blood-brain barrier. Because of this, oral atenolol, a hydrophilic β-1 receptor-selective beta-blocker, may represent a valid treatment alternative. Nonetheless, there is still controversy regarding the efficacy and safety of atenolol when compared with propranolol as monotherapy for this condition.

We searched Epistemonikos, the largest database of systematic reviews in health science, which is maintained by screening multiple sources of information, including MEDLINE/PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane, among others. Data were extracted from the identified reviews, data from the primary studies were analyzed, a meta-analysis was performed, and a summary table of the results was prepared using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) method.

Nine systematic reviews were identified, including 10 primary studies and three randomized trials. The three randomized trials were included in the analysis of this investigation.

The use of oral atenolol compared with oral propranolol as monotherapies may result in little or no difference in terms of likelihood of complete remission, decrease in Hemangioma Activity Score, likelihood of post-treatment relapse, and risk of adverse events and severe adverse events, in infantile hemangioma (low certainty of evidence).