[Local anesthesia in CO2 laser treatment of disseminated therapy-resistant condylomata]

In an open prospective study 67 patients with refractory genital warts, irrespective of anatomic localization, received CO2-laser vaporization in local anaesthesia, using lidocaine 2% as the local anaesthetic. Sufficient anaesthesia was obtained in all treated patients, with minor pain as the only side effect observed. A single CO2-laser treatment resulted in disappearance of the lesions in 37 (55%) of the patients. Repeated CO2-laser vaporizations in patients with recurrent disease increased the cure rate to 85%. The response rate seemed unaffected by the localization of the warts. It is concluded, that local anaesthesia might replace general anaesthesia in the treatment of patients with multiple refractory genital warts.