Management of airway hemangiomas.

Airway infantile hemangiomas can cause life-threatening airway compromise from the first year of life. Diagnosis, treatment protocols and outcome measures are not standardized for this condition, making systematic assessment of treatments and outcomes difficult. This article summarizes the treatment options in use and provides an overview of their benefits and drawbacks. It also emphasizes the need for further investigation in this field and discusses the standardization that is required for such research to proceed in a useful manner. The article is divided into discussions of airway infantile hemangioma in general, medical therapy and surgical therapy. It concludes with predictions about the near future of airway infantile hemangioma research and therapy.