***TASK*** the task is to summarize an input biomedical literature in six sentences 
    ***INPUT*** the input is a biomedical literature 
    ***OUTPUT*** the output is the summary of an input biomedical literature in six sentences 
    ***DOCUMENTATION*** 
    ***EXAMPLES*** 
    Input: The complete treatment of anogenital warts has not been obtained with any combination of methods ; therefore , new methods are still under investigation . In this study the activity and side effects of imiquimod 5 % cream were investigated . The study group consisted of 23 male and 11 female volunteers and the control group of 9 male and 2 female volunteers . Patients applied the cream three times a week , every other day in the evenings for a period of 12 weeks . After the treatment , patients were regularly monitored for six months for recurrences . At the end of the study , 23 ( 69.7 % ) patients ( all of females and 54.5 % of males ) in the study group displayed a complete clearance , 9 patients displayed 50 - 90 % clearance and 1 patient displayed less than 50 % clearance . In the control group , only 1 patient displayed a complete clearance , 1 patient displayed 50 - 90 % clearance , and the other 8 patients showed no alteration in the lesions . These results were statistically significantly different ( p<0.01 ) . In 15 patients in the study group , no side effects were reported ; the most frequently seen side effects were erythema and erosion . In six patients that were observed for a period of six months , recurrences occurred . Imiquimod 5 % cream is a topically applied medicament that should be considered as an effective and reliable medical option in the treatment of anogenital warts Objective . To evaluate if new imiquimod formulations using a shorter treatment duration are safe and efficacious to treat  anogenital warts . Methods . In two studies 534 women ≥12 years of age ( mean 33.4 ) with 2–30 warts ( mean 7.9 ) and total wart area ≥10 mm2 ( mean 166.3 ) were r and omized ( 1 : 2 : 2 ) to placebo ( 106 ) , imiquimod 2.5 % ( 212 ) or 3.75 % ( 216 ) creams applied once daily until complete clearance or a maximum of 8 weeks . Results . For placebo , imiquimod 2.5 % and 3.75 % , respectively , complete clearance of all warts was achieved in 14.2 % , 28.3 % , and 36.6 % of women ( intent-to-treat , P = 0.008 imiquimod 2.5 % , and P < 0.001 3.75 % versus placebo ) . Mean changes in wart counts were −10.7 % , −50.9 % , and −63.5 % ( per- protocol , P < 0.001 each active versus placebo ) and safety-related discontinuation rates 0.9 % , 1.4 % , and 2.3 % . Conclusions . Imiquimod 3.75 % applied daily for up to 8 weeks was well tolerated and superior to placebo in treating women with external anogenital warts We conducted a multicenter double-blind study comparing human recombinant intralesional alpha-2 interferon ( IFN ) and placebo in 237 patients with the clinical diagnosis of condyloma acuminatum or verruca plantaris . A single wart on each patient was injected with 0.1 mL containing 10(6 ) IU of IFN , 10(5 ) IU of IFN , or placebo three times weekly for three weeks , and the response to treatment was followed up for 12 weeks . Among 91 of the 114 patients with condyloma acuminatum who completed the study , complete clearing of the treated wart occurred in 16 ( 53 % ) of 30 patients receiving 10(6 ) IU of IFN compared with six ( 19 % ) of 32 receiving 10(5 ) IU of IFN and four ( 14 % ) of 29 receiving placebo . In the group of 100 patients with plantar warts , there was no apparent benefit associated with interferon administration . Seven patients ( 3 % ) had treatment discontinued due to adverse reactions . Intralesional alpha-2 IFN is of benefit in the treatment of a single condyloma ; its role in the treatment of multiple lesions remains to be clarified . Its role in the treatment of verruca plantaris , where no response was seen , also remains to be clarified The purpose of this double-blind , placebo-controlled , comparative study was to evaluate the specific clinical efficacy and tolerance of human leukocyte interferon-α ( 2 × l06 IU/g ) and podophyllotoxin 0.5 % incorporated in a hydrophilic cream to cure genital warts . Preselected Asian women ( n=60 ) aged 18–40 years ( mean 22.9 ) , with a clinical and biopsy-confirmed diagnosis of genital warts , harboring 322 lesions ( mean 5.36 ) were r and omly assigned to three parallel groups to receive one of the two test drugs or placebo . Each patient received a preceded tube ( 40 g ) containing either human leukocyte interferon-α , podophyllotoxin , or identically appearing placebo cream for 3 days ' usage . In addition to written instructions , each subject was shown how to apply a minimal amount of trial medication on their lesions thrice daily for 3 consecutive days per week ( maximum nine topical applications per week ) . Patients were examined on a weekly basis , and a cure was considered to be a biopsy-confirmed , total elimination of a lesion . Moreover , patients cured during the study period were spared further therapy , and were requested to return in 16 weeks to monitor for the occurrence of a relapse . The remaining patients ' empty tubes were collected , and similarly precoded replacement tubes were given to continue the treatment ; a total of 214 tubes were used . The study was scheduled for 16 weeks with 4 weeks of active treatment . Individuals were excluded from the study due to pregnancy , breast feeding , or the receiving of any type of antiviral therapy during the 4 weeks preceding enrollment . Better results were obtained with leukocyte interferon-α cream than with podophyllotoxin both in terms of the number of cured patients ( 18/20 vs. 12/20 , or 90 % vs. 60 % ; P<0.0285 ) and the number of eliminated lesions ( 105/110 ) vs. 87/108 , or 95.5 % vs. 80.5 % ; P<0.001 . In the placebo group 4/20 ( 20 % ) patients were cured , indicating lower results . Out of the 60 patients 51 ( 85 % ) complained of no drug-related symptomatic side effects . However , the most frequent non objective adverse symptoms experienced by the patients were mild tenderness 4/60 ( 6.6 % ) , burning sensation 3/60 ( 5 % ) , and transitory increase in body temperature ( > 38 ° C ) accompanied by headache and itching 2/60 ( 3.3 % ) . None of the patients suffering from these side effects elected to discontinue the study . The patients were evaluated for 1 year after the initial visit , and among the 34/60 ( 56.6 % ) cured patients two had a relapse after 9 months . In conclusion , the clinical results of this study demonstrate that leukocyte interferon-α ( 2 × l06 IU/g ) is more efficacious than 0.5 % podophyllotoxin and placebo in hydrophilic cream , and substantiates that along with mild , non objective , transient , localized , adverse symptoms , human leukocyte α-interferon therapy is more effective and better than podophyllotoxin in cream for curing genital warts in PURPOSE Genital warts are a highly prevalent and chronic sexually transmitted disease for which there is no completely satisfactory therapy . Conventional ablative therapy requires repeated treatment , often for months or years . This study was undertaken to evaluate the safety and efficacy of 0.5 % podofilox in patient-administered treatment of  penile warts .  PATIENTS AND METHODS Thirty-eight men with penile warts were r and omly assigned to double-blind , self-administration of 0.5 % podofilox solution or placebo , twice daily for 3 days per week for 4 weeks . Eleven podofilox and 15 placebo recipients with residual warts then received an additional 4 weeks of open-label treatment . RESULTS By the end of treatment , podofilox recipients had their mean wart number and area reduced to 15.9 % and 5.1 % of baseline values , compared to 97.4 % and 92.9 % in the placebo group ( p = 0.0001 ) . Local adverse reactions were more common in the podofilox group , but were transient . Complete disappearance of warts was observed in 25 ( 53.3 % ) of 45 treatment courses , including open-label treatment . Recurrences of warts after therapy were frequent . Only 21 % of patients remained free of warts 2 weeks after completing treatment , and subsequent recurrences were noted in all patients available for long-term follow-up , which is a common limitation of ablative therapy for genital warts . CONCLUSION Podofilox 0.5 % solution is effective in treating penile warts and is well tolerated in a self-administered regimen . Podofilox 0.5 % offers potential advantages in safety and cost over podophyllin resin therapy of genital warts BACKGROUND Genital warts are a well-recognized clinical entity and a disease of great antiquity that differ from skin warts both histologically and antigenically . It is a common sexually transmitted disease of high prevalence all over the world . Women are more likely to be unaware of such warts because it is harder for them to examine their genitalia . OBJECTIVE The purpose of this multicenter , double-blind , placebo-controlled study was to compare the clinical efficacy and tolerance of 0.3 % and 0.5 % podophyllotoxin in a cream emulsion ( castor oil , BP as vehicle ) to cure genital condylomata in women . METHODS Preselected ( n = 80 ) Asian females ( mean age 23.6 years ) , harboring 544 warts ( mean 6.8 in number ) , ranging from 1 to 9 mm in size ( mean 2.1 mm ) with biopsy-proven diagnosis of condylomata acuminata were r and omly allocated to three groups ( 30 + 30 + 20 ) . At home the patients applied the given trial medication themselves ( using the finger ) twice a day , for 3 consecutive days per week , and if not cured the same course was extended to 3 more weeks , in total 24 topical applications for 4 weeks . The patients were examined on a weekly basis , and a total regression of warts ( biopsy-proven ) was evaluated as complete cure . RESULTS By the end of the study , the placebo group ( 20 patients , bearing 124 warts ) did not show any regression or clinical efficacy , while 41/60 patients ( 68.3 % ) and 349/420 warts ( 83 % ) were cured in the 0.3 % and 0.5 % treatment groups ( placebo vs. active groups p < 0.001 ) . Patients using the 0.5 % active medication had substantially more eliminated warts ( 205/349 , 95.8 % ) than the 0.3 % group ( 70 % ) . Localized adverse symptoms were mild to moderate and were well tolerated by the patients with no dropout . Forty-three patients ( 53.8 % ) did not show any adverse reaction . The most frequent adverse symptoms were tenderness ( 23/80 , 28.8 % ) and burning sensation ( 14/80 , 17.5 % ) . Among 41/80 ( 51.25 % ) cured patients 4 had a relapse after 16 weeks . CONCLUSION Along with mild , tolerable side effects the study demonstrates that 0.5 % podophyllotoxin cream is more efficacious than 0.3 % ( p < 0.01 ) and can be considered as a reliable home-based treatment Objectives : To evaluate the efficacy and cost effectiveness of self applied podophyllotoxin 0.5 % solution and podophyllotoxin 0.15 % cream , compared to clinic applied 25 % podophyllin in the treatment of genital warts over 4 weeks . Methods : We conducted a r and omised controlled trial in 358 immunocompetent men and women with genital warts of 3 months ’ duration or less . Results : In the principal analysis both podophyllotoxin solution ( OR 2.93 , 95 % CI 1.56 to 5.50 ) and podophyllotoxin cream ( OR 1.97 , 95 % CI 1.04 to 3.70 ) were associated with significantly increased odds of remission of all warts compared to podophyllin . We performed two further analyses . When subjects defaulting from follow up were assumed to have been cured odds of remission of all warts were also significantly increased both for podophyllotoxin solution ( OR 3.04 , 95 % CI 1.68 to 5.49 ) and for podophyllotoxin cream ( OR 2.46 , 95 % CI 1.38 to 4.40 ) . When subjects defaulting from follow up were assumed not to have been cured odds of remission of all warts were significantly increased for podophyllotoxin solution ( OR 1.92 , 95 % CI 1.13 to 3.27 ) , but not for podophyllotoxin cream ( OR 1.17 , 95 % CI 0.69 to 2.00 ) . Local side effects were seen in 24 % of subjects , and rec 
    Output:
    
With low-level evidence of most included RCTs ,  surgery and electrosurgery  were superior to other treatments after clearance and recurrence assessment .
Podophyllotoxin 0.5 % was the most efficacious patient-administered treatment .