Warts are not merely blemishes on the skin: A study on the morbidity associated with having viral cutaneous warts

Ciconte, Antoinette; Campbell, Jan; Tabrizi, Sepehr N.; Garland, Suzanne M.; Marks, Robin

doi:10.1046/j.1440-0960.2003.00672.x

Cited by 75 publications

(62 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…Moderate to extreme discomfort is reported in 51.7% of patients, and social or leisure activities are affected to a moderate to extreme degree in 38.8%. 2 Warts of the genital tract carry a much more ominous and pernicious threat for women in particular. It has been estimated that up to 70% of sexually active women become infected during their lifetime with human papillomavirus (HPV), the infective agent that causes warts.…”

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confidence: 99%

An Armamentarium of Wart Treatments

Lipke¹

2006

Clinical Medicine & Research

282

295

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Patients and clinicians experience the frustration of cutaneous viral warts caused by infection with the human papilloma virus (HPV).Warts appear in various forms on different sites of the body and include common warts (verruca vulgaris), plane or flat warts, myrmecia, plantar warts, coalesced mosaic warts, filiform warts, periungual warts, anogenital warts (venereal or condyloma acuminata), oral warts and respiratory papillomas. Cervical infection with HPV is now known to cause cervical cancer if untreated. A review of the medical literature reveals a huge armamentarium of wart monotherapies and combination therapies. Official evidence-based guidelines exist for the treatment of warts, but very few of the reported treatments have been tested by rigorous blinded, randomized controlled trials.Therefore, official recommendations do not often include treatments with reportedly high success rates, but they should not be ignored when considering treatment options. It is the purpose of this review to provide a comprehensive overview of the wart treatment literature to expand awareness of the options available to practitioners faced with patients presenting with problematic warts. Warts of the genital tract carry a much more ominous and pernicious threat for women in particular. It has been estimated that up to 70% of sexually active women become infected during their lifetime with human papillomavirus (HPV), the infective agent that causes warts. 3-5 A causal role for HPV infections in cervical cancer has been documented beyond reasonable doubt. HPV DNA is present in virtually all cervical cancer cases worldwide, with it being detected in 99.7% of an international series of cervical cancers by genetic amplification techniques and in 100% of cases as confirmed by histological review. 6,7 Cervical cancer is the most frequent common cancer in developing countries and the second most common cancer in women worldwide. 3 The association between HPV infection and cervical cancer is so strong that HPV is now considered the first positive cause of any human cancer ever identified. 3This raises the level of concerns over HPV prevention, screening and treatment from that of a nuisance condition to that of a major public health concern. Attention is beginning to focus on the viral factors that determine persistence and neoplastic progression to cancer and the possible role of HPV in other nongenital cancers (e.g., skin, upper aerodigestive tract). [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17] Patients with warts seek advice from general practitioners, pharmacists, naturopaths, allied health professionals, family or friends, dermatologists, gynecologists, obstetricians and pediatricians for treatment and may present with recalcitrant warts that have been previously treated with anything from folk remedies to hypnosis to over-the-counter medications to more aggressive clinic-based treatments. Unfortunately, even with years of medical literature on this subject, high-quality, level I evidence for the efficacy of almost all treatments is no...

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confidence: 99%

An Armamentarium of Wart Treatments

Lipke¹

2006

Clinical Medicine & Research

282

295

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“…Many treatment options, including destructive therapy, virucidal therapy, antimitotic therapy, and immunotherapy (as well as a combination of these), have been commonly used with varying efficacies [1,2].…”

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Local Hyperthermia at 44°C for the Treatment of Plantar Warts: A Randomized, Patient‐Blinded, Placebo‐Controlled Trial

et al. 2010

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There have been anecdotal reports that local hyperthermia was effective in the treatment of viral warts. We conducted a randomized, patient-blinded, placebo-controlled trial to test the effect of local hyperthermia (44 degrees C for 30 min a day for 3 consecutive days plus 2 additional days 2 weeks later) on plantar warts. By the end of 3 months, 53.57% of patients (15/28) in the treatment group and 11.54% of patients (3/26) in the control group were cured (P < .01). The effect was not influenced by patient age, duration of disease, or number or size of lesions.

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“…Ciconte [ 5 ] studied 85 people aged 2-76 years with 250 common and plantar warts were followed prospectively for 9 months. Eight (19.5 %) said the treatment resulted in the development of scars.…”

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confidence: 99%