comparison of two methods for the treatment of primary pterygium: amniotic membrane transplantation plus intraoperative mitomycin c, versus conjunctival rotational autograft plus intraoperative mitomycin c

purpose: to compare outcomes and recurrence rates of amniotic membrane transplantation (amt) plus intraoperative mitomycin c (mmc) and conjunctival rotational autograft (cra) plus intraoperative mmc in pterygium surgery methods: ninety-two eyes of 92 patients with primary nasal pterygium were enrolled. all patients were randomized to undergo either amt or cra. forty-three patients underwent amt plus intraoperative mmc (amt group), and 49 patients cra plus intraoperative mmc (cra group). patients were followed-up at 1 day, 1 week, 2 week, 1, 3, 6, and 12 months postoperatively. the main outcome measurement was a recurrence rate after surgery. results: a total of 92 eyes of 92 patients were included in the study. in amt group 22 patients were male and 21 patients were female. in cra group 25 patients were male and 24 patients were female (p=0.923). mean age in amt group was 46.4 and in cra group was 47.7 years (p=0.634). mean pterygium size in amt group was 3.4 mm and in cra group was 3.3 mm (p=0.320). mean follow-up time in amt group was 10.5 months and in cra group was 10.8 months (p=0.535). nine of 43 eyes (20.93%) in the amt group developed recurrence compared with four of 49 eyes (8.16%) in the cra group (p=0.145). conclusion: although no statistically significant difference was present between the two groups, however the recurrence rate seems to be clinically less in the cra group.    iranian journal of ophthalmology 201426(4):193-8 © 2014 by the iranian society of ophthalmology