[Efficacy and benefit of a 5-FU/salicylic acid preparation in the therapy of common and plantar warts--systematic literature review and meta-analysis].
BACKGROUND
(1) Salicylic acid (SA) and 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU) are effective drugs in wart therapy. (2) In Germany, increasing data on the benefit and the economic efficiency of drugs at Level I of evidence-based medicine are needed.


METHODS
Evaluation of the effectiveness and benefits of a drug combination containing 0.5 % 5-FU and 10% SA in the therapy of (a) common and (b) plantar warts in form of a two-step procedure--(1) Systematic literature analysis, (2) Meta-analysis of the randomised-controlled studies (RCTs).


RESULTS
(1) The efficacy of 5-FU/SA therapy was tested in a total of 625 patients (n=8 RCTs) with common warts and 101 patients (n=4 RCTs) with plantar warts. The therapeutic effect across all studies in common warts was 63.4% response (complete healing) for 5-FU/SA vs. 23.1% for the 5-FU-free controls, respectively. In plantar warts, the response was 63.0% vs. 11.0%. (2) A meta-analysis of n=7 RCTs on common warts (n=325 patients) showed a mean risk difference of 0.42 (CI 0.34-0.50, p < 0.05), thus a significant superiority of 5-FU/SA over SA. A comparable result was also found for plantar warts.


CONCLUSIONS
The combination of 5-FU and SA is an effective and beneficial therapy for common and plantar warts.
Zschocke
Ina
I
Institut für Forschungsmanagement und klinische Studien, Freiburg.
Hartmann
Armin
A
Schlöbe
Andrea
A
Cummerow
Ralf
R
Augustin
Matthias
M
D001241:Aspirin / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D004338:Drug Combinations; D005472:Fluorouracil / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D005528:Foot; D006801:Humans; D038622:Internationality; D011379:Prognosis; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D012307:Risk Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014860:Warts / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology*
D004338:Drug Combinations; D001241:Aspirin; D005472:Fluorouracil