RESUMEN
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the clinical efficacy of intralesional excision and immediate postoperative adjuvant radiotherapy in the treatment of keloids. METHODS: Eighty-one patients with a combined total of 86 keloids were treated with 6 MeV electron beam radiotherapy after surgical intralesional excision of keloids. All received a total dose of 15 - 20 Gy for 5 consecutive days beginning the day of surgery. The time interval between keloid excision and the delivery of first fraction of radiotherapy was < 6 h. The post-operative follow-up period was 12 - 31 months. RESULTS: Forty-three cases yielded excellent outcomes and there were 18 fair cases. The overall effective rate was 85.9%. There were 10 recurrent cases. Only adverse effects such as delayed wound-healing and telangiectasias (11.3%) were found. Neither severe complications nor secondary malignancies occurred. CONCLUSION: Intralesional excision of keloid and postoperative electron radiotherapy are well-tolerated and efficacious in the prevention of keloid recurrence.