Efficacy of oral zinc sulphate versus cryotherapy in the treatment of palmoplantar warts

Abstract

Abstract: Background Different methods of treatment of warts include occlusion, cryotherapy, electrocautery, salicylic acid, tricholoroacetic acid, podophyllin, 5 fluorouracil, and tretinoin. Systemic therapies are oral zinc sulphate, cimetidine and retinoids. But no single therapy has been proven effective at achieving complete remission in every patient Objective To compare the efficacy of oral zinc sulphate versus cryotherapy in treatment of palmoplantar warts Methods This randomized control trial was conducted in Department of Dermatology Nishtar Hospital Multan for a period of 6 months. A total of 104 patients with having palmoplantar warts for less than 3 months, 18-35 years of both genders were included. Patients with periungal warts and pregnancy were excluded. Patients were randomly allocated into two groups by lottery method. Group A patients were given oral zinc sulphate (10mg/kg/day) into two divided doses for 6 weeks. Group B patients were given cryotherapy at weekly intervals for maximum of 6 sessions. Patients were followed at 2nd, 3rd and 6th week. At the end of 6 weeks both the groups were evaluated for treatment efficacy. Results The mean age of patients in group A was 24.58 ± 5.32 years and in group B was 24.13 ± 5.40 years. Out of 104 patients, 56 (53.85%) were females and 48 (48.15%) were males with female to male ratio of 1.2:1. Efficacy of Group A (oral zinc sulphate) was seen in 45 (86.54%) patients while in Group B (cryotherapy) was seen in 33 (63.46%) patients (p-value = 0.007). Conclusion Oral zinc sulphate has more efficacy than cryotherapy in the treatment of palmoplantar wart. Key words Palmoplantar warts, zinc sulphate, cryotherapy, resolution.