Treatment of pterygium: Comparison of four transplantation methods

Introduction: Pterygium, one of the degenerative and prevalent ophthalmic diseases, is more prevalent in equatorial and tropical areas. This study was conducted in order to compare recurrence rate and surgical complications of pterygium treatment with four different transplantation methods of conjunctival autograft, conjunctival flap, using mitomycin-C with conjunctival autograft and using mitomycin-C with bare sclera. Methods: In this experimental study, pterygium treatment on 80 eyes from 68 patients was investigated. The transplantation methods were randomly allocated to the patients and all operations were implemented by one surgeon. Pterygium size of all patients was >2 mm. 21 eyes were treated with conjunctival autograft method, 18 eyes with conjunctival flap method, 18 eyes with mitomycin-C with conjunctival autograft method and 23 eyes were treated with mitomycin-C with bare sclera method. Follow-up duration of the patients was between 6 to 24 months. The results were analyzed using t-test, Chi-Square and Analysis of variance statistical tests. Results: Recurrence rate for autograft transplantation method was 4.67%, for conjunctival flap method was 16.67%, for conjunctival autograft with mitomycin-C was 5.55% and of bare sclera with mitomycin-C was 8.70%. All recurrences occurred within 2 months from operation and there was no surgical complication. The relationship between recurrent pterygium and recurrence rates were statistically significant (P<0.05). Conclusion: Pterygium treatment with conjunctival autograft transplantation method is simple and safe with minimum recurrence rate. Using mitomycin-C with conjunctival autograft method has not any effect on recurrence rate and surgical complications for suitable and selected patients