A topic in Clinical Evidence summarizes the results of one systematic review (search date 2000, 13 RCTs, 1389 people). Two small RCTs (total n=69) did not find a statistically significant difference between cryotherapy and placebo cream at 2–4 months in the proportion of people with wart clearance (35% vs 34%). According to one trial, photodynamic treatment was more effective than cryotherapy. According to 2 RCTs (total n=320) there was no difference in wart clearance at 3–6 months compared with salicylic acid (65% vs 62%). Four RCTs (total n=592) found that aggressive cryotherapy increased the proportion of people with wart clearance after 1–3 months (52% with aggressive vs 31% with gentle cryotherapy, RR 1.68, 95% CI 1.37 to 2.06, NNT 5).
Comment: The quality of evidence is downgraded by imprecise data (limited study size for each comparison) and by inconsistency of results.