Intralesional vincristine combined with cryotherapy for recalcitrant verrucas

Abstract

Verrucas are often recalcitrant to conventional cryotherapy. Since 1970, intralesional bleomycin has been used off-label by dermatologists. But in some cases, the results of intralesional bleomycin were disappointing. Vincristine is a well-known vinca alkaloid antiblastic drug that has been used for treating hematological neoplasm and nephroblastomas. It was reported good efficacy of intralesional vincristine for treating nodular lesion in classic Kaposi sarcoma. Its use in epithelial neoplasm and Kaposi sarcoma may support its efficacy in recalcitrant verrucas. The three patients selected for the study presented severe verrucas on foot, and they had already undergone cryotherapy several times and there was no improvement. They got intralesional vincristine injection on their verrucas. The target lesion was infiltrated with 0.03 mL of vincristine sulphate at a concentration of 1 µg/mL. The injected amount of vincristine was proportional to the diameter of the nodule. After two treatments had been completed, there was a great decrease of lesion size compared with the other lesions. The three patients complained of pain lasting for several days. This pain was generally well tolerated. Intralesional vincristine injection on verruca is an effective and rapid novel method, and when combined with cryotherapy, shows excellent therapeutic response.