Immunostimulation to reduce recurrence after surgery for anal condyloma acuminata: a prospective randomized
M Mistrangelo1, S Cornaglia, M Pizzio
1Oncological Surgical Department, University of Turin, 10126 Turin, Italy. mistrangelo@katamail.com
Aim:
Human papillomavirus is the most common cause of sexually transmitted disease. It is associated with immunosuppression and shows a marked tendency to recur. We investigated a natural immunostimulant aimed to reduce recurrence.
Method:
A randomized controlled study was carried out including 261 patients allocated to surgical excision alone (control group; n = 122) and surgical excision plus postoperative immunostimulation for 30 days with a natural product (STET; study group; n = 139). Patients with HIV positivity were excluded. All patients gave fully informed consent.
Results:
The patients were followed for 6 months after surgery. Recurrence occurred in 7.2% (10/139) in the study group and in 27.1% (33/122) in the control group (P < 0.0001). There were no significant differences in the sex, sexual orientation, number of lesions, time to diagnosis and treatment or localization of lesions in the two groups.
Conclusions:
Immunostimulation using a natural product significantly reduced the incidence of recurrence of anal condylomata in patients undergoing surgical excision.
