Abstract

Background: Pterygium is a common ophthalmological problem in India. Excision of pterygium with conjunctival autograft is the main line of treatment. Many modifications of surgical techniques have been tried like conjunctival autografting with fibrin glue, sutures and autologous serum. All these modalities have their pros and cons. We compared these techniques for conjunctival autografting following pterygium surgery.

Methods: A randomized interventional study was performed on 60 eyes with primary nasal pterygium. After pterygium excision, the bare sclera was covered with a conjunctival autograft, which was fixed using autologous blood serum(in Group A, n=20), fibrin glue(in Group B, n=20) and vicryl suture (8-0) (in Group C, n=20). The patients were examined on postoperative Day 1, 1 week, 1month, 3 month and 6 month. The main outcome measures were operative time ,autograft stability, postoperative discomfort, autograft thicknes, pterygium recurrence and granuloma formation.

Results: The mean operative time was significantly shorter in group A(23.60 min) followed by Group B (25.20 min) and Group C(28.15 min)(p-value <0.0001).Postoperative discomfort measured on visual analogue scale was minimal in fibrin group (p-value=0.0008) and maximum in suture group. Graft displacement was found in 2(10%) patient in autologous blood group (p value=0.349) while Graft oedema, granuloma & recurrence was noted in suture group only(p value=0.362).

Conclusions: The conjunctival autografting with fibrin glue proved to be better method than autologous serum and suture, as it had very less postoperative discomfort, no recurrence, minimal edema and less graft displacement.