EFFICACY OF IMIQUIMOD 5% AND PODOPHYLLIN 25% IN TREATMENT OF GENITAL WARTS: A COMPARATIVE STUDY

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Introduction and Purpose: Warts are a viral contagious disease that cause concern and result in cosmetic problems. There are several treatments for warts, but none of them is effective, simple, fast and universally applicable to all patients. Due to the high prevalence of warts especially among young adults, finding a low-cost method to effectively treat them without complications seems necessary. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to compare the efficacy of imiquimod 5% and podophyllin 25% in the treatment of warts. Method: This research is a single-blind clinical trial involving 280 individuals diagnosed with warts who visited women's clinic of Imam Khomeini Hospital of Sari in 2017. The Patients were randomly divided into two groups. One group were treated with imiquimod 5%, and the other group were treated with podophyllin 25% lotion three times a week for 8 consecutive weeks. Assessment of the treatment response and examination of drug complications were made four times a week for 8 weeks. In each session, the condition of patients was compared to that of the previous session in order to examine the response to treatment. Treatment complications were also assessed at the end of the treatment. The data were statistically assessed by SPSS. Findings: The statistical population were women with an average age of 29 ± 7.23 (12-47). Results revealed that there was not a significant relationship between the number of lesions, the size of them, the patients’ age, duration of warts, and their location on the body (p>0.05). Podophyllin lotion also had partial response in 52.5% of patients but complete treatment of warts was observed in 44% of them. In the imiquimod group, the response to the treatment was 52.4% and the partial response was %46.1; the number and size of the warts decreased significantly by the end of the treatment. The results of the treatment response assessment showed no significant differences between the two groups (P=0.559); the side effects (itching, erythema and ulcer) was significant in the patients of the podophyllin group (P<0.05). Conclusion: The results of this study showed that application of the imiquimod gel had fewer complications, and its results was the same as those of podophyllin. Given that the former can be applied by the patients at home, it is given priority over podophyllin.