Oral atenolol compared to oral propranolol for infantile hemangioma

Introducción Infantile hemangioma is the most frequent benign vascular tumor in child-hood, 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-se-lective 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. Methods Se realizó una búsqueda en Epistemonikos, la mayor base de datos de revi-siones sistemáticas en salud, la cual es mantenida mediante el tamizaje de múltiples fuentes de información, incluyendo MEDLINE/PubMed, EM-BASE, Cochrane, entre otras. Se extrajeron los datos desde las revisiones identificadas, se analizaron los datos de los estudios primarios, se realizó un metanálisis y se preparó una tabla de resumen de los resultados utilizando el método Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Eva-luation, GRADE. Results 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. Conclusion 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).