Ayush Mahendra Sangole1, Dharmendra Arjun Kose2
CONTEXT (BACKGROUND)
Pterygium is a frequently occurring progressive ocular surface disorder which is a fleshy triangular wing shaped growth, encroaching from conjunctiva on cornea. Pterygium is frequent in hot, dry, dusty environment and prevalence is 0.3% to 29%. Surgical removal is main treatment for pterygium. The recurrence rate after pterygium surgery varies according to type of surgery. Various surgical modalities tried like simple excision, bare sclera technique, amniotic membrane transplantation and conjunctival autografting.
AIM
To compare surgical outcome of patient’s own blood Vs 10-0 Nylon for conjunctival autografting in pterygium excision.
SETTINGS AND DESIGN
It is a prospective randomised interventional control trial, with a sample size of minimum 30 patients in each group studied in a tertiary care hospital from Oct. 2013 to Dec. 2015.
METHODS AND MATERIAL
Out of 63 patients who underwent pterygium excision, patient’s own blood was used in 32 patients (Group A) and 10-0 Nylon suture was used in 31 patients (Group B) for conjunctival autografting. All patients were followed up regularly on postoperative day 1, 8, 30, 90 and 180. Variables for postoperative assessment were pain, watering, irritation, redness, graft displacement, graft loss and recurrence.
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS 13.0 (SPSS, Chicago). Outcome variables between the two groups were compared using the non-parametric Mann–Whitney U Test.
RESULTS
The mean surgical time of group B (31.48±6.15 min) is significantly high as compared to group A (19.71±5.13 min) with p<0.001. The regression analysis revealed that except surgery type, no other variable had significant impact on the duration of surgery. Postoperative symptoms are less in group A as compared to group B. Group B showed two recurrences whereas no recurrence was seen in group A.
CONCLUSIONS
Conjunctival autografting by patient’s own blood is better than 10-0 Nylon sutures due to less operative time, less postoperative ocular signs and symptoms, economical and no recurrence.
