Post-operative KEloids iRradiation (POKER): does the surgery/high-dose interventional radiotherapy association make a winning hand?

Purpose To report the results involving post-operative interventional radiotherapy (POIRT) in a homogenous cohort of patients affected by keloid and treated at a single institution with the same fractionation schedule. Patients and Methods Inclusion criteria were: surgery with a histopathological diagnosis of keloid, subsequent high-dose rate interventional radiotherapy (HDR-IRT)—12 Gy in 4 fractions (3 Gy/fr) twice a day—and follow-up period ≥ 24 months. Results One-hundred and two patients and a total of 135 keloids were eligible for the analyses. Median follow-up was 64 [IQR: 25–103] months. Thirty-six (26.7%) recurrences were observed, 12-months and 36-months cumulative incidence of recurrence were 20.7% (95% CI 12.2–28.5) and 23.8% (95% CI 14.9–31.7) respectively. History of spontaneous keloids (HR = 7.00, 95% CI 2.79–17.6, p