A comparative study of mitomycin-c versus conjunctival autograft following pterygium excision

Abstract

Purpose: To compare the recurrence rate of pterygium after simple excision with mitomycin-C (MMC) versus conjunctival autograft and to study the complications of the two techniques Methods: This prospective study included 80 eyes fulfilling the inclusion criteria selected from the outpatient department at R.L.J. HOSPITAL AND RESEARCH CENTRE, TAMAKA, KOLAR attached to SRI DEVARAJ URS MEDICAL COLLEGE between December 2011 and July 2013.All the patients were randomly divided into 2 groups of 40 each to undergo pterygium excision followed by MMC 0.02% application for 3 minutes and conjunctival autografting respectively. Results: The average age of patients in the study was 48.5 years with a female preponderance with more incidence of bilateral than unilateral involvement. Postoperative complications like superficial punctuate keratitis was noted in MMC group and Graft oedema, Granuloma and Distortion of the graft were noted in Conjunctival autograft group. Recurrence rate in Mitomycin group (15%) was more compared to conjunctival autograft group(5%) without any statistical significance between the two groups(p=0.13). Conclusion: Hence, as minimal complications were noted in both the groups but recurrence rate is more in Mitomycin-C group than Conjunctival autograft group, pterygium excision with conjunctival autografting is an efficient procedure.