Evaluation of efficacy and safety of modified technique of auto wart implantation in the treatment of multiple, recurrent and recalcitrant warts

• Author Details:   
• Mukunda Ranga Swaroop
• Belagola Dasegowda Sathyanarayana
• Periasamy Vasudevan
• Aneesa ^*
• Priyanka Kuma

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Background: Multiple recurrent warts affect patient’s quality of life by causing physical and psychological discomfort. Common treatment modalities are painful, cause scarring, have high recurrence rates and are impractical for treatment of multiple lesions. Immune stimulation by exposing the viral antigens to body’s immune system forms an ideal modality of treatment. Auto wart implantation works under this principle.
Aim: To evaluate the safety and efficacy of modified technique of auto wart implantation in the treatment of multiple recurrent recalcitrant warts.
Methods: A total of 40 patients with multiple recurrent cutaneous warts were enrolled in this prospective open labelled study. The donor tissue was harvested by just paring the wart, instead of taking a part of wart tissue. The pared tissue was implanted into the sub cutis. Patients were followed up once in 2 weeks for one month and then monthly for 3 months. Patients were evaluated with lesion count at each visit and the response to the treatment was assessed at the end of 12 weeks. The resolution of all warts within 3 months after the procedure was considered successful.
Results: All 40 patients with multiple warts (male: female = 29:11) were available for follow-up. At the end of 3 months, 28 patients (75%) showed complete clearance of warts, 9 patients (22.5%) had partial clearance and one patient showed no improvement. One patient developed erythematous nodule at the implantation site.
Conclusion: Modified technique of auto implantation of wart employing the pared stratum corneum tissue from the wart is a simple, safe and effective therapeutic modality with rapid resolution of warts in the treatment of multiple, recurrent, recalcitrant warts.

Key Words: Auto wart implantation; Immune stimulation; Paring; Multiple, Recurrent, Recalcitrant warts.