Current advances in the selection of adjuvant radiotherapy regimens for keloid

Abstract

Keloid is a common benign skin tumor in the outpatient department, and patients are often accompanied by itching and pain. Since the pathogenesis is unknown, the effect of single method treatment is unsatisfactory, and therefore the recurrence rate is high. Therefore, comprehensive treatment is mostly used in clinical treatment. Adjuvant radiotherapy is currently one of the most effective treatments for keloid. After long-term clinical practice, brachytherapy and electron beam radiotherapy has increasingly become the gold standard of treatment, because brachytherapy provides more focused radiation treatment to focal tissue to significantly reduce recurrence rate, and better preserve normal tissue. With the development of new radiotherapy techniques, more options for the treatment of keloid. Currently, adjuvant radiotherapy has been widely recognized, but there is no consensus on the optimal protocol for adjuvant radiotherapy for keloids. This review provides a review of published treatment options and new radiotherapy techniques for adjuvant radiotherapy of keloids and gives a comprehensive evaluation for clinical treatment.

Keywords: adjuvant radiotherapy; dose; keloid; radiation; recurrence.

FIGURE 1

Schematic representation of the radiation technique. (A) Process and prognosis of postoperative radiotherapy for keloids, (B) mechanism of X-ray and selection of dose and depth, (C) mechanism of electron radiation and selection of dose and depth, and (D) mechanism of brachytherapy and selection of dose and depth. Reproduced with permission from Journal of Plastic, Reconstructive & Aesthetic Surgery (19).