SynthesisBritish journal of clinical pharmacology2020
The effectiveness and safety of topical β-receptor blocker in treating superficial infantile haemangiomas: A meta-analysis including 20 studies.
Synthesis in British journal of clinical pharmacology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 31 citations in OpenAlex.
- Comparative efficacy and safety of pharmacologic, laser, and combination therapies for infantile hemangioma: a systematic review and network meta-analysis with evidence certainty assessment.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2026Pooled it
- Efficacy and safety of oral propranolol and topical timolol in the treatment of infantile hemangioma: a meta-analysis and systematic review.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2024Pooled it
- The effectiveness and safety of topical β-receptor blocker in treating superficial infantile haemangiomas: A meta-analysis including 20 studies.British journal of clinical pharmacology · 2020Pooled it
- Early Intervention Effects and Risk Factors for Residual Skin Changes in Infantile Hemangiomas.The Journal of dermatology · 2026Article
- From Posttraumatic Lipoma to Hemangioma: 2 Foreign Bodies' 4-decade Unnoticed Presence.Plastic and reconstructive surgery. Global open · 2026Article
- Research progress on the use of beta-blockers in the progression prevention, and treatment of retinopathy of prematurity.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2026Review
- The timing and safety of topical timolol treatment for superficial infantile hemangioma: a retrospective cohort study.European journal of pediatrics · 2025Article
- Infantile hemangiomas: a dermatologist's perspective.European journal of pediatrics · 2024Review
- Hyperkalemia due to topical timolol for hemangioma.JAAD case reports · 2023Article
- Pathophysiological basis and promise of experimental therapies for Gulf War Illness, a chronic neuropsychiatric syndrome in veterans.Psychopharmacology · 2023Review
- Topical beta-blockers in dermatologic therapy.Dermatologic therapy · 2021Review
- Paediatrics: how to manage infantile haemangioma.Drugs in context · 2021Review
- Repurposing Ophthalmologic Timolol for Dermatologic Use: Caveats and Historical Review of Adverse Events.American journal of clinical dermatology · 2021Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
aimsTo evaluate the effectiveness and safety of topical β-receptor blocker in treating superficial infantile haemangiomas (SIH) and compare the effectiveness and safety of topical β-receptor blocker against other therapies.
methodsA search of the literature using PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Review database, China National Knowledge Infrastructure and Wanfang were performed to identify the studies that estimated the effectiveness and safety of topical β-receptor blocker in treating SIH, the fixed-effect or random-effects meta-analytical techniques were applied to assess the outcomes.
resultsTwenty studies, involving 2098 patients, were included to conduct this analysis. Topical propranolol and topical timolol were discovered to be as effective as oral propranolol in treating SIH (propranolol, odds ratio [OR] = 0.486, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.165, 1.426, P = .189; timolol, OR = 0.955; 95%CI 0.700, 1.302; P = .769), and topical timolol was more effective than topical imiquimod (OR = 2.561; 95%CI 1.182, 5.550; P = .017), observation (OR = 18.458; 95%CI 5.660, 60.191; P < .001) and topical saline solutions (OR = 19.193; 95%CI 8.837, 41.683; P < .001) in treating SIH. The comparison between topical propranolol and oral propranolol led to no discovery of significant difference in the incidence of adverse effects (OR = 1.258; 95%CI 0.471, 3.358; P = .647). Compared with oral propranolol, topical timolol was associated with fewer incidences of adverse effects (OR = 0.191; 95%CI 0.043, 0.858; P = .031). No significant difference in the incidence of adverse effects was found when topical timolol and topical imiquimod were compared (OR = 0.077; 95%CI 0.005, 1.206; P = .068).
conclusionThis meta-analysis provided evidence that topical β-receptor blockers (propranolol and timolol), especially timolol, may replace oral propranolol as a first-line treatment for SIH.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.