Comparing the Efficacy of Cryotherapy with 25% Solution of Podophyllin in the Treatment of Genital Warts in Women

Document Type : Original Article (s)

Authors

1 Student of Medicine, School of Medicine, Yazd University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran

2 Professor, Department of Dermatology, School of Medicine, Yazd University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran

Abstract

Background: Genital wart is a common sexually transmitted disease (STD). Because of the unpleasant symptoms, chances of transmission and high risk of dysplasia and malignancy, the treatment is necessary. Several methods are used for the treatment of genital warts that the most common ones are podophilin and cryotherapy. This study aimed to compare the efficacy of these two methods and determine the best approach to treat women with genital warts.Methods: This was a clinical trial study on women with external genital warts referred to Khatam al Anbiya clinic, Yazd, Iran, during the years 2012-2013. From 60 enrolled patients, 30 were treated with cryotherapy and 30 with 25% solution of podophyllin. Each method was done once a week to complete the clearance of lesions, or the maximum period of 6 weeks. Patients were clinically examined on a weekly basis and were treated to a full recovery of lesions. In each session, the recovery rate, the number of lesions and possible side effects were recorded in a questionnaire.Findings: 60 patients in the age range of 17 to 51 years were enrolled; 53 were married, and 7 were single. In the initial examination, 36 patients (60.0%) were engage in the genital area, 10 (16.7%) in anal region and 14 (23.3%) in both the anal and genital areas. The mean time full recovery of lesions was 2.9 weeks in podophyllin and 3.4 weeks in cryotherapy groups. 46.6% of patients in cryotherapy group and 23% in the podophyllin group had complication. The highest incidence of complications in both treatment groups was one week after the initiation of treatment.Conclusion: Based on the results, the cryotherapy group required more therapeutic sessions than podophyllin group. It can be concluded that cryotherapy is more effective than podophyllin solution in the treatment of genital warts and has low complication and recurrence rate compared to cryotherapy with liquid nitrogen.

Keywords

References

  1. Tramujas da Costa e Silva, de Lima Ferreira LC, Santos GF, Goncalves Guimaraes RA, Botinelly FL, Barbosa Cabral CR, et al. High-resolution anoscopy in the diagnosis of anal cancer precursor lesions in renal graft recipients. Ann Surg Oncol 2008; 15(5): 1470-5.
  2. Juckett G, Hartman-Adams H. Human papillomavirus: clinical manifestations and prevention. Am Fam Physician 2010; 82(10): 1209-13.
  3. de Sanjose S, Diaz M, Castellsague X, Clifford G, Bruni L, Munoz N, et al. Worldwide prevalence and genotype distribution of cervical human papillomavirus DNA in women with normal cytology: a meta-analysis. Lancet Infect Dis 2007; 7(7): 453-9.
  4. Pazhouhan P, Aziz-Jalali MH. The frequency of patients with condyloma acuminata referred to the Dermatology Clinic of Hazrat Rasoul Akram Hospital. Tehran, Iran: Iran University of Medical Sciences; [MD Thesis]. 2002. [In Persian].
  5. Bakardzhiev I, Kovachev E. Comparative assessment of the methods of treatment of Condylomata acuminata. Akush Ginekol (Sofiia) 2011; 50(4): 45-51. [In Bulgarian].
  6. Jablonska S. Traditional therapies for the treatment of condylomata acuminata (genital warts). Australas J Dermatol 1998; 39(Suppl 1): S2-S4.
  7. Sherrard J, Riddell L. Comparison of the effectiveness of commonly used clinic-based treatments for external genital warts. Int J STD AIDS 2007; 18(6): 365-8.
  8. Bashi SA. Cryotherapy versus podophyllin in the treatment of genital warts. Int J Dermatol 1985; 24(8): 535-6.
  9. Stone KM, Becker TM, Hadgu A, Kraus SJ. Treatment of external genital warts: a randomised clinical trial comparing podophyllin, cryotherapy, and electrodesiccation. Genitourin Med 1990; 66(1): 16-9.
  10. Layegh P, Pezeshkpoor F, Emam-gholy P, Shakeri MT. Cryotherapy versus podophyllin in the treatment of genital wart. Iran J Obstet Gynecol Infertil 2007; 10(2): 133-7. [In Persian].
Journal of Isfahan Medical School
Volume 33, Issue 354 - Serial Number 354
September and October 2015
Pages 1710-1717

Files

History

  • Receive Date: 01 August 2015
  • Revise Date: 28 May 2024
  • Accept Date: 06 April 2022

Share

How to cite

Statistics