Infantile haemangiomas (IH) are benign vascular tumours characterised by their very rapid growth. Although usually innocuous, periocular IH can cause serious visual loss through induction of strabismic, deprivational or anisometropic astigmatism. Common treatment modalities for these IH include intralesional and systemic oral steroids; however, both treatments are associated with potentially severe side effects. A report was published recently demonstrating the impressive effect of propranolol in the treatment of IH. This exciting finding has provoked a paradigm shift in the management of this condition. So far little has been reported in the specific ophthalmologic literature, although case reports are emerging. This review gives an overview of the recent findings and includes the authors' experience with 10 patients treated with propranol.

Background: Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (CT) is widely accepted for patients with primary breast cancer (BC) not eligible for breast conservative surgery (BCS). Docetaxel, when used in combination with or when sequentially added to an anthracycline-based regimen, is active in the adjuvant setting. The objectives of this trial were to assess the activity of sequential anthracycline-docetaxel chemotherapy in the neo-adjuvant setting and to evaluate these markers as predictors of response.Patients and methods: Patients with unilateral BC > 2 cm (with or without positive sentinel lymph node (LN)), adequate liver, kidney and bone marrow function and no evidence of distant metastasis were eligible for enrolment. Patients with stage T4d or inflammatory BC were excluded. Treatment prior to surgery consisted of 4 cycles of Adriamycin (60 mg/m²) plus cyclophosphamide (600 mg/m²) (AC) administered intravenously every 3 weeks (q3wk), followed by 4 cycles of docetaxel (D) (100mg/m²) q3wk. Patients were clinically evaluated after 4 cycles of AC and again after 4 cycles of D. Pathological evaluation was performed after definitive surgery. Hormonal receptor, HER2 and topoisomerase II alpha (topoII) status and tumor grade were evaluated for their ability to predict response to treatment.Results: Fifty-three patients with a mean age of 49 years (range 31-69), were included in this analysis. Mean largest tumor diameter before treatment was 49.1 mm (range 25-90 mm). There were 12 grade 2 and 30 grade 3 tumours representing 46 ductal carcinomas, 5 lobular carcinomas and 2 mixed tumors. Eleven tumors (21%) were not evaluable (NE). LNs were positive in 62% of patients. Forty patients were evaluable for HER-2 and topoII. Thirteen patients (33%) were HER2-positive by immunohistochemistry (IHC) and 11 of these 13 were also HER2-positive by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), 4 patients were topoII positive by FISH. The mean topoII level for FISH-positive patients was 1.83 (CI, 95%, 1.49 to 2.16). There was no increase in the topoII level without HER2 amplification by FISH. Forty-three percent of patients were oestrogen (E) and progesterone (P) receptor (R) positive, 28% were ER and PR negative, and 15% of patients were triple negative. After 4 cycles of AC, a complete reponse (CR) was seen in 17% of patients, partial response (PR) in 53% stable disease (SD) in 26%, and progressive disease (PD) in 4%. After 4 cycles of D the corresponding figures were 30%, 45%, 11% and 2% respectively. Eleven percent of patients were NE. Forty patients (75.5%) had BCS and 13 (24.5%) underwent mastectomy. A correlation was found between HER2 amplification by FISH and topoII amplification: r=0.576 (95% CI, 0.290 to 0.767). ER, PR, tumor grade, HER2 and topoII failed to predict response.Conclusions: Sequential AC followed by D is a highly effective neoadjuvant treatment and permits BCS in more than 75% of patients. There is a significant correlation between HER2 amplification by FISH and topoII levels. Tumor grade, ER, PR, HER2 or topoII were no predictors of response to AC nor D. Citation Information: Cancer Res 2009;69(24 Suppl):Abstract nr 2045.

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Purpose Infantile capillary hemangiomas (IH) are the most common tumours of the eyelid and orbit in infants. Despite their self‐limited course, IH can impair visual function. Recently, the use of propranolol was found to reduce the size of IH. We will present our own case series of patients with periocular IH treated with propranolol to illustrate these findings. Methods We conducted a retrospective study on 10 children with IH treated with propranolol. After exclusion of any contra‐indication, propranolol was initiated at a dose of 1 mg/kg/d. After 10‐14 days, patients were checked again for side‐effects. If these were absent, propranolol was increased to 2 mg/kg/d. Further follow‐up consists of monthly clinical and photographical evaluations of the IH, monitoring of treatment compliance and tolerance. Success of treatment is defined as stopping growth or reducing size. The response to treatment was rated by 3 blinded, independent observers. Results The age range at start of treatment with propranolol was between 2 and 19 months (mean 6,8 months). The mean age at stopping propranolol was 14,4 months. The mean duration of treatment was 7,6 months and only 1 patient had to stop treatment because of side effects. Two patients (20%) had a rebound after temporary stop of propranolol. The success rate in our case serie was 100%. Half of the group had excellent results, 30% had a good response and 20% had a fair response. We also obtained objective measures of astigmatism and anisometropia in 6 patients. We report a reduction in anisometropic astigmatism in 5 of these 6 patients. Conclusion These data support the current perception that propranolol is a highly effective first line treatment for IH with very limited and mild side effects.