It has been 6 years since we published the results from the first clinical study of SWIFT® microwave treatment for warts in the European Journal of Dermatology (1). In that original paper, we undertook a prospective study which ultimately reviewed the treatment outcomes in 32 patients with 54 refractory warts. Since that time, the technology has gradually been marketed and sold globally, and we are now beginning to see outcome data appear from other continents. In a recently published paper, a clinical team based in New Zealand undertook a retrospective analysis of 45 patients who underwent treatment of 150 warts. Of the 150 warts treated using microwave therapy 125 warts (83.3%) had resolved at the conclusion of the study in an average time of 2.8 treatment sessions. Patients on average had 3.3 warts with the majority 33 (73%) have tried other modalities previously.
The work concurs with the initial study, improving slightly in its outcome (83.3% resolution versus 75.6%) in the original UK study. In addition, this work confirmed what had been suspected through clinical use in that younger patients faired better in terms of resolution rates. A regression analysis undertaken in the New Zealand paper showed decreasing age to be a clinical characteristic associated with resolution. Other aspects such as gender, immunosuppression, lesion counts and location had no bearing on the final outcome.
At the time of writing, data from two US studies have been accepted for publication and will be published shortly. As soon as this data becomes available, it will be reported on the website.
The full study can be read and downloaded here.
References
1. Bristow IR, Lim W, Lee A, Holbrook D, Savelyeva N, Thomson P, et al. Microwave therapy for cutaneous human papilloma virus infection. Eur J Dermatol. 2017;27(5):511-8.
2. Hagon W, Hagon J, Noble G, Brenton-Rule A, Stewart S and I. Bristow I., Microwave therapy for the treatment of plantar warts. Journal of Foot and Ankle Research 2023 16(1):37