Response from the authors of 'Treatment of infantile haemangiomas with atenolol: Comparison with a historical propranolol group'

摘要

With great interest we have read the comments of Ashvin Raju and Roba Khundkar. We are pleased that the authors acknowledge atenolol as a possible alternative to propranolol.In respect to age adjustment, we included age as a categorical variable (1-6 months, 6-12 months and >12 months) in our model, so linearity between age and efficacy was not assumed. We agree that propranolol was shown to be the more efficacious option with regard to the percentage of patients with clinical involution, but this was not statistically significant (p = 0.09).When confronted with two patients on propranolol that developed side effects, we initiated atenolol treatment.1 We hypothesized that the use of a hydrophilic, selective beta-1-blocker could be effective and prevent side effects of propranolol. Good results made atenolol our primary drug of choice.