Propranolo Versus Steroid In The Treatment Of Infantile Hemangiomas:a Meta-analysis

ObjectiveA meta-analysis was performed in order to evaluate the clinical effects of propranolol versus steroids in the treatment of infantile hemangiomas(IHs).MethodsA detailed review of the literature on PubMed,Cochrane Library,Embase and Web of Science was performed before March 31,2020.All literatures were compared with the clinical effects of propranolol and steroids in the treatment of infantile hemangiomas.A total of two researchers independently screened the literature according to the selection criteria,extracted data and assessed the risk of bias for the included studies.Review Manager 5.3 was used to meta-analyze all the included studies.ResultsAccording to the selection criteria,9 articles were included in the present study.The meta-analysis showed that the effective rate of propranolol was better than that of steroid in treating infantile hemangiomas [odds ratio(OR),3.96,95% confidence interval(CI),2.47-6.37;P<0.00001];propranolol had fewer complications than steroids(OR,0.21;95% CI,0.12-0.36;P<0.00001);the recurrence rate of the two groups was not statistically different(OR,1.83;95% CI,0.59-5.70;P=0.3).The surgical resection rate of propranolol was lower than steroids(OR,0.19;95% CI,0.08-0.46;P=0.0002).ConclusionThis study shows that propranolol is more effective in the treatment of infantile hemangioma,which provides a theoretical basis for the clinical selection of propranolol and corticosteroid in the treatment of infantile hemangioma.