The recurrence of pterygium after different modalities of surgical treatment.

PURPOSE

To assess and compare the recurrence rate of pterygium after limbal stem cell transplantation versus amniotic membrane transplantation (AMT) as ocular surface reconstructing measures in recurrent pterygium, also evaluation of the use of antimetabolite drugs as adjunctive therapy for AMT.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

Prospective randomized comparative study included 60 eyes of 48 patients with recurrent pterygia. Informed consents were taken from all patients. Primary pterygium excision was performed 6-15 months ago; the cases were divided randomly into three equal groups: Group 1: included 20 eyes with excision of the pterygium and application of limbal stem cell transplantation with conjunctival autograft, group 2: included 20 eyes with excision of the pterygium followed by AMT and group 3: included 20 eyes in which surgical excision of pterygium was followed by intra-operative application of low-dose of MMC (0.05%) for 3 min then using AMT.

RESULTS

The study included 36 males and 12 females of age ranged from 28 to 52 years. The recurrence rate was 2 eyes in group 1 (10%) (limbal stem cell transplantation + conjunctival autograft), 6 eyes in group 2 (30%) (AMT) and 4 eyes (20%) in group 3 (MMC + AMT). The rate of recurrence was significantly different between the three groups (P < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

Limbal stem cell transplantation together with conjunctival autografting proved to be more effective in prevention of pterygium recurrence and in rapid restoration of normal epithelial morphology. MMC in addition to AMT decreases the incidence of recurrence.