When recurrence rates were not stratified by keloid size (including both lesions smaller than 5 cm and those larger than 5 cm) a clear trend emerged indicating that Group 1 was the least effective treatment, both in the short term (6 months, p -value = 0.007) and in the long term (2 years, p -value = ( p ≤ 0.001).
The difference was found to be statistically significant at the 6-month follow-up ( p -value = 0.047), the trend remained consistent over time with an almost significant analysis at the 2 years follow-up ( p -value = 0.063).
While the comparison between Group 2 and Group 3 did not reach statistical significance, the numerical difference in recurrence rates suggests a potential clinical advantage for HDR-BT in managing larger and more complex keloids.