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Wart treatments are numerous and varied. Which if any of these treatments actually cure warts? These investigators performed a systematic review of all published controlled, randomized trials of uncomplicated wart treatments. The main outcome measure was complete clearance of warts.
Fifty randomized, controlled trials were identified. The authors classified 41 trials (82%) as low quality, 7 (14%) as intermediate quality, and only 2 (4%) as high quality; different methods limited the pooling of data. In the 17 placebo-controlled trials that were analyzed together, placebo achieved an average cure rate of 30%. In the 6 trials that examined salicylic acid versus placebo, active treatment had an average cure rate of 75%, compared with a 48% rate…