5-Fluorouracil in the treatment of penile and urethral condylomata acuminata

Abstract

5-Fluorouracil (5-FU) cream was compared with podophyllin 25 percent in alcohol for treating genital and urethral condylomata acuminata. The cure rate after four weeks was found to be 6 of 18 patients treated with 5-FU and 10 of 19 treated with podophyllin. By changing the treatment for those not cured, warts regressed after four weeks in four more patients in each group. Patients were followed up for four to nine months; 10 of 27 treated with 5-FU and 14 of 31 treated with podophyllin remained in remission. It is not possible to support earlier reports on the successful treatment of meatal warts using 5-FU cream. More than half of the patients given 5-FU reported side effects after 10 to 14 days' treatment, which in some cases led them to stop using the cream. Twenty-one men considered to be treatment failures or relapses were examined by urethroscopy. No intraurethral condylomata were found but three cases of warts in the fossa navicularis were doscovered; this prompted us to introduce an instrument to examine the urethral meatus and the fossa navicularis.