diff --git a/packages/mermaid/src/rendering-util/handle-markdown-text.js b/packages/mermaid/src/rendering-util/handle-markdown-text.js
deleted file mode 100644
index 5102429d3..000000000
--- a/packages/mermaid/src/rendering-util/handle-markdown-text.js
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,85 +0,0 @@
-import { fromMarkdown } from 'mdast-util-from-markdown';
-import { dedent } from 'ts-dedent';
-
-/**
- * @param {string} markdown markdown to process
- * @returns {string} processed markdown
- */
-function preprocessMarkdown(markdown) {
-  // Replace multiple newlines with a single newline
-  const withoutMultipleNewlines = markdown.replace(/\n{2,}/g, '\n');
-  // Remove extra spaces at the beginning of each line
-  const withoutExtraSpaces = dedent(withoutMultipleNewlines);
-  return withoutExtraSpaces;
-}
-
-/**
- * @param {string} markdown markdown to split into lines
- */
-export function markdownToLines(markdown) {
-  const preprocessedMarkdown = preprocessMarkdown(markdown);
-  const { children } = fromMarkdown(preprocessedMarkdown);
-  const lines = [[]];
-  let currentLine = 0;
-
-  /**
-   * @param {import('mdast').Content} node
-   * @param {string} [parentType]
-   */
-  function processNode(node, parentType = 'normal') {
-    if (node.type === 'text') {
-      const textLines = node.value.split('\n');
-      textLines.forEach((textLine, index) => {
-        if (index !== 0) {
-          currentLine++;
-          lines.push([]);
-        }
-        textLine.split(' ').forEach((word) => {
-          if (word) {
-            lines[currentLine].push({ content: word, type: parentType });
-          }
-        });
-      });
-    } else if (node.type === 'strong' || node.type === 'emphasis') {
-      node.children.forEach((contentNode) => {
-        processNode(contentNode, node.type);
-      });
-    }
-  }
-
-  children.forEach((treeNode) => {
-    if (treeNode.type === 'paragraph') {
-      treeNode.children.forEach((contentNode) => {
-        processNode(contentNode);
-      });
-    }
-  });
-
-  return lines;
-}
-
-/**
- * @param {string} markdown markdown to convert to HTML
- * @returns {string} HTML
- */
-export function markdownToHTML(markdown) {
-  const { children } = fromMarkdown(markdown);
-
-  /**
-   * @param {import('mdast').Content} node
-   */
-  function output(node) {
-    if (node.type === 'text') {
-      return node.value.replace(/\n/g, '<br/>');
-    } else if (node.type === 'strong') {
-      return `<strong>${node.children.map(output).join('')}</strong>`;
-    } else if (node.type === 'emphasis') {
-      return `<em>${node.children.map(output).join('')}</em>`;
-    } else if (node.type === 'paragraph') {
-      return `<p>${node.children.map(output).join('')}</p>`;
-    }
-    return `Unsupported markdown: ${node.type}`;
-  }
-
-  return children.map(output).join('');
-}
diff --git a/packages/mermaid/src/rendering-util/handle-markdown-text.spec.ts b/packages/mermaid/src/rendering-util/handle-markdown-text.spec.ts
index 8ae519cfa..fba8acf69 100644
--- a/packages/mermaid/src/rendering-util/handle-markdown-text.spec.ts
+++ b/packages/mermaid/src/rendering-util/handle-markdown-text.spec.ts
@@ -237,10 +237,13 @@ test('markdownToHTML - Only italic formatting', () => {
 });
 
 test('markdownToHTML - Mixed formatting', () => {
-  const input = `*Italic* and **bold** formatting`;
-  const expectedOutput = `<p><em>Italic</em> and <strong>bold</strong> formatting</p>`;
-  const output = markdownToHTML(input);
-  expect(output).toEqual(expectedOutput);
+  expect(markdownToHTML(`*Italic* and **bold** formatting`)).toMatchInlineSnapshot(
+    '"<p><em>Italic</em> and <strong>bold</strong> formatting</p>"'
+  );
+
+  expect(markdownToHTML('special characters: `<p>hi</p>`')).toMatchInlineSnapshot(
+    '"<p>special characters: <code>&lt;p&gt;hi&lt;/p&gt;</code></p>"'
+  );
 });
 
 test('markdownToHTML - Unsupported formatting', () => {
diff --git a/packages/mermaid/src/rendering-util/handle-markdown-text.ts b/packages/mermaid/src/rendering-util/handle-markdown-text.ts
index 4fcbaa0b8..91ed94284 100644
--- a/packages/mermaid/src/rendering-util/handle-markdown-text.ts
+++ b/packages/mermaid/src/rendering-util/handle-markdown-text.ts
@@ -1,12 +1,13 @@
 import { micromark } from 'micromark';
 import { fromMarkdown } from 'mdast-util-from-markdown';
 import type { Content } from 'mdast';
+import { dedent } from 'ts-dedent';
 
 function preprocessMarkdown(markdown: string): string {
   // Replace multiple newlines with a single newline
   const withoutMultipleNewlines = markdown.replace(/\n{2,}/g, '\n');
   // Remove extra spaces at the beginning of each line
-  const withoutExtraSpaces = withoutMultipleNewlines.replace(/^\s+/gm, '');
+  const withoutExtraSpaces = dedent(withoutMultipleNewlines);
   return withoutExtraSpaces;
 }