CIMETIDINE THERAPY FOR RECALCITRANT WARTS IN ADULTS

Background: Common warts, or verrucae vulgaris, occur most often in ch ildren. However, many adults are plagued by this ubiquitous viral infe ction. Various modalities have been used to treat warts, but none is u niformly effective or directly antiviral. A recent study showed cimeti dine to be effective in the treatment of multiple warts in children. A necdotal reports have suggested that the administration of high doses of cimetidine, through various proposed immunomodulating mechanisms, c an improve recalcitrant warts in adults. There have been no data publi shed to date supporting these claims. Observations: An open-label stud y was conducted to determine the safety and efficacy of high-dose cime tidine in 20 adult patients with recalcitrant warts. Of the 18 patient s who completed the study, 16 patients (84%) had either dramatic clini cal improvement or complete resolution of their wart lesions after 3 m onths of cimetidine therapy without any adverse effects. No patient de monstrated disease progression while receiving the medication and comp lete responders remained free of lesions at 1-year follow-up. Conclusi ons: This study further confirms that high-dose cimetidine therapy app ears to be beneficial and safe in the treatment of recalcitrant warts in adults. Further placebo-controlled studies are needed to determine its true efficacy.