Comparing CO2 Laser and Electrosurgical Treatments for Perianal Condyloma

Perianal condyloma are skin- colored and fleshy lesions caused by various variants of Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), most commonly 6 and 11. The treatment modalities available include topical options like podophyllin, imiquimod cream, trichloroacetic acid and cryotherapy, injectable options like interferon and 5-fluoroucil, and surgical options like excision, fulguration, cryotherapy, and laser removal. However, the treatment is usually short-lived, and the patients are subjected to multiple repeat procedures because of high recurrence and low clearance rates. Surgical management has the highest clearance rate. There are several surgical modalities including excision, electrosurgical fulguration (ESF), and LASER vaporization. LASER techniques work directly to destroy/transect the lesion, cause necrosis of infected keratinocytes and induce local inflammation. LASER treatment is also reported to have minimal local surrounding tissue injury and sphincter injury, and less pain and discomfort. For this reason, LASER therapy has been increasingly used to remove anogenital warts, and is a standard of care treatment of condyloma. We hypothesize that LASER vaporization is effective to treat perianal condyloma and may have clinical benefits over ESF. We will compare postoperative outcomes such as pain, healing, cosmesis and recurrence following either treatment method.