Curative effect study of pulsed dye laser in the treatment of 43 patients with hand infantile hemangioma

Objective Pulsed dye laser has been proved to be fairly effective in the treatment of infantile hemangioma. But the effect varies in different body sites. The objective of this study was to assess the long-term outcome and complications of 595 nm pulsed dye laser in the treatment of hand infantile hemangioma in our laser department, retrospectively. Patients and Methods The patients with hand infantile hemangioma who had received pulsed dye laser (595 nmV-beam, Candela Cop., Wayland, MA. Parameters: fluence 10∼13 J/cm 2 , pulse duration 20∼40 ms, spot diameter 7 mm, epidermal cooling 20/40 s) treatment in past 5 years were recruited for the study. Detailed demographics, results of questionnaires and clinical examination were entered into a database and statistical analyses were conducted where applicable. Results 43 patients with hand infantile hemangioma were recruited, including 29 females and 14 males, with a mean age of 8.92 months at treatment time. 7 patients with 10 hemangioma lesions at other sites from the hand meanwhile received laser treatment. There was a significant difference in the subjective assessment of clearing between hand lesions and additional other site hemangioma (p < 0.001). The average Patient Satisfaction Score was 7.25 for hand hemangioma, the average Patient Satisfaction Score was 4.45 for other site hemangioma lesions, there was a significant difference between hand and non-hand lesions (p < 0.001). Conclusions 595 nm pulsed dye laser provides a safe and effective modality with lower morbidity for hand hemangioma.