Kaukollu Venkata Madusudana Rao1, Malladi Raja Rajeswari2, Bhagavatula Venkata Sujatha Ratnakumari3
BACKGROUND
The aim of the study is to compare the effectiveness of pterygium excision with conjunctival autograft and amniotic membrane graft patients in terms of postoperative comfort, graft adherence and complications. Our hospital is a rurally situated hospital offering tertiary care for all patients. The incidence of pterygium being quite high, more prevalent in middle-aged group, surgery being the only treatment option available, our endeavour to give best surgical outcome started with this study comparing the results of conjunctival autograft with amniotic membrane graft.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
It was a prospective study conducted on 100 patients with primary pterygium over a period of one year. Patients were randomly divided into two groups of 50 patients each. Group-1 patients underwent pterygium excision with Conjunctival Autograft (CAG) and Group-2 patients underwent pterygium excision with Amniotic Membrane Graft (AMG). Patients were followed postoperatively for a period of 12 months and were observed for recurrence, graft adherence, vascularity, graft oedema and status of the raw area.
RESULTS
100 patients were randomised to receive conjunctival autograft and amniotic membrane graft. Complication rate was more in AMG group (56%) as compared to CAG group (44%). Recurrence was higher in AMG group (12%), as compared to CAG group (7%).
CONCLUSION
Our study concludes that even though AMG patients are more comfortable than CAG patients during the immediate postoperative follow up, AMG patients have shown to have more recurrence rate and graft complications than the CAG patients.
