Medically uncontrolled conjunctival pyogenic granulomas: correlation between clinical characteristics and histological findings

BACKGROUND Conjunctival pyogenic granulomas are commonly seen after ocular surgeries or at an ocular wound site. The aim of this study is to describe a novel histological classification for medically uncontrolled conjunctival pyogenic granulomas (MUCPG), and to explore whether the diversity in clinical features correlates to different histological subtypes of MUCPG. METHODS This is an observational cross-section case series. We reviewed 46 consecutive patients with conjunctival pyogenic granulomas who did not respond to topical corticosteroids and underwent surgical excision from January 1, 2006 through December 31, 2015. Clinical features and histological findings were presented and analyzed. RESULTS Ocular surgery, accidental injury, and chalazion were the main predisposing causes of MUCPG. The lesions tended to occur unilaterally on the bulbar conjunctiva. Forty patients (87%) presented an enrichment of inflammatory cells and proliferated capillaries in their pathological sections (inflammatory pattern). Six patients (13%) showed relatively few inflammatory cells and capillaries within fibrous stroma (fibrous pattern). Patients with the inflammatory pattern were older (p = 0.025) and tended to be located in bulbar conjunctiva (p = 0.002). The predisposing causes were also different between two histological subtypes (p = 0.007). CONCLUSIONS We found the correlation between clinical presentation and histological subtypes in patients with MUCPG, indicating this disease may need a new classification scheme.