Surgical Excision and Immediate Postoperative Radiotherapy versus Cryotherapy and Intralesional Steroids in the Management of Keloids: A Prospective Clinical Trial

Objective: To compare the efficacy and tolerability of surgical excision and radiotherapy with those of cryotherapy and intralesional steroid treatment of keloids. Subjects and Methods: Twenty-six patients with a total of 76 keloids were enrolled in this study. Nineteen patients with 44 keloids underwent surgical excision combined with immediate 12-Gy irradiation (group A) while the remaining 9 patients with 32 keloids received multiple sessions of intralesional steroid treatment after cryotherapy which continued until flattening of lesion(s) occurred (group B). Two patients were included in both treatment groups. All patients were followed up at regular intervals for at least 1 year. Results: In both treatment groups, keloids responded well without any major side effect. While patients of group A were all satisfied, those of group B (with a mean number of treatment sessions of 5.84 8 2.51) experienced more side effects, a more prolonged course, a higher recurrence rate and less satisfaction. Conclusion: This study showed that surgery plus immediate Received: April 8, 2009 Revised: August 16, 2009 Ladan Dastgheib Department of Dermatology Saadi Hospital, Zand Avenue Shiraz (Iran) Tel. +98 711 235 7547, Fax +98 711 231 9049, E-Mail dastghl @ sums.ac.ir © 2010 S. Karger AG, Basel 1011–7571/10/0195–0402$26.00/0 Accessible online at: www.karger.com/mpp D ow nl oa de d by : 54 .7 0. 40 .1 1 11 /4 /2 01 7 6: 11 :5 2 P M