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Corticosteroid therapy
Source: Childhood Vascular Tumors Treatment (PDQ®)–Health Professional Version, National Cancer Institute.
Source updated: April 17, 2025 · Captured 2026-09-09.
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Context: Benign Tumors / Infantile Hemangioma / Treatment of infantile hemangioma
Before propranolol, corticosteroids were the first line of treatment for infantile hemangiomas. They were first used in the late 1950s but were never approved by the U.S. FDA for this indication. Corticosteroid therapy has become less popular because of the acute and long-term side effects of steroids (gastrointestinal irritability, immunosuppression, adrenocortical suppression, cushingoid features, and growth failure).
Corticosteroids (prednisone or methylprednisolone) are used at times when there is a contraindication to beta-blocker therapy or as initial treatment while a patient is started on beta-blocker therapy.[126]
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