Radiation Therapy Following Total Keloidectomy; A Preliminary Report

Son, Daegu; Lee, Hyuk Gu; Han, Ki Hwan; Kim, Jin Hee

Abstract

The authors evaluated 14 patients from July 1999 to February 2004 treated with total keloidectomy followed by postoperative radiation treatment, delivered within 24 hours or 24-36 hours after surgery. The total dose of radiation was 1200cGy in three fractions for 4-5 days. Among the 14 patients treated, 8 patients were evaluated for following-up. The age range of these patients were from 22 to 44 years old, with the average age of 30 years. The site of keloid lesions consisted; 6 on the ear lobe, 5 on the anterior chest and 1 on the upper arm. The mean follow-up period was 29.9 months. The recurrence was evaluated with photogrammetric analysis and skin color analysis. The photogrammetric analysis was performed with planimetry for the comparison of the ratio of the reduced size to the preoperative size. The mean value of the relative size of reduction was 55% and the ratio of the ear lobes were greater than the ratio of the chests. The skin color analysis was performed with chromameter CR-300 for the analysis of color difference (E) between the surrounding normal skin and the lesion. The larger the recurred size was, similar to the original size, the larger the E value was, so the E value posses the probability of predictable objective tool of recurrence. Although verifying the effectiveness of radiation therapy following keloidectomy need more cases and long term follow-up evaluation, this therapeutic modality seems very effective in reducing the keloid size, especially in the ear lobe.