Authors (including presenting author) :
Chan YY (1), Hui MT (1), Cheuk C(1), Yu SK(1), Leung KW(1)
Affiliation :
1.Department of Family Medicine, Prince of Wales Hospital
Keyword 3: :
effectiveness
Keyword 4: :
triage clinic
Keyword 5: :
new service and model
Introduction :
Warts and skin tags are common problems encountered in primary care. Cryotherapy is safe and easy to use in primary care setting. In general, it is highly effective treatment with successful rate around 50-70% for few sessions. The waiting time for dermatological clinic would be very long. As such, cryotherapy service was started from 2023 in staff clinic (HASC) and later the service was implemented in family medicine specialist clinic (FMSC) from 2024 onwards. It aims to shorten the waiting time and reduce disease burden to patients.
Objectives :
To evaluate the effectiveness of cryotherapy service by health service outcome and clinical efficacy outcome.
Methodology :
Cryotherapy service of two clinics (HASC and FMSC) were reviewed. Liquid nitrogen spray was used to provide cryotherapy service. Staff clinic cryotherapy clinic received patients from staff clinic and FMSC received patients from all family medicine clinics of Shatin district. Both clinics provided one service session per month. All patients attended cryotherapy clinic of HASC from Jan 2023 to Dec 2025 and FMSC from Jan 2024 to Dec 2025 were reviewed. Result analysis included 1) health service utilization such as service statistics, waiting time and discharge rates and 2) clinical efficacy outcomes i.e. referral rates, number of treatment session with cryotherapy received, and cure rates. Local reactions like blistering, dyspigmentation and scar will be recorded.
Result & Outcome :
The total attendance of two clinics were 443. It served 199 individuals. The new case proportion would be 44.9%. As at January 2026, the waiting time of these clinics were 4-16 weeks whereas waiting time for dermatology clinic would be 75 weeks. For the health service review, 166 cases were discharged, 16.2% (26) of patients required to refer to SOPC and 6.6% (11) of patients required to seek podiatry service. 57.9% (96) could be case closed without follow up. There were 19.3% (32) of default rate. There were 102 patient received cryotherapy. 62.7% were females and 37.2% were males. The mean treatment session with cryotherapy was 2.76 (minimum 1, maximum 13) The complete cure rate, partial cure rate and no response rate would be 79.4%,12.7%,4.9%. If calculated for cases with skin tag and wart only, the cure rate would be even higher, the complete cure rate, partial curse and no response rate would be 91.8%, 8.1% and 1.1%. Only 15.6% developed side effect. 8.8% (9) developed some pigment change, 4.9% (5) developed small blister and 1.9% (2) developed minimal scar. Family Medicine clinic is able to provide safe and effective cryotherapy service for treatment of minor skin problems especially wart and skin tag. It also reduced the waiting time of dermatology clinic.
