The reult of amniotic membrane tranplantation for primary pterygium compared with conjunctival autograft

A randomized, propective tudy wa performed to determine the efficacy and afety of amniotic membrane tranplantation (AMT) v conjunctival autograft (CAG) a adjunctive therapy after urgical exciion of primary pterygium. Eighty-ix eye of 78 patient with pterygium that were either advancing more than 3 mm onto the cornea or cauing extreme irritation were included in the tudy, randomized to either AMT (44 eye of 39 patient) or CAG (42 eye of 41 patient) a adjunctive therapy, and operated on by a ingle urgeon. The mean follow-up wa 14.40 ± 5.4 month in the AMT group and 12.35 ± 3.13 month in the CAG group. There were 18 recurrence (40.9%) in the AMT group and 2 (4.8%) in the CAG group (P < .007). The cumulative proportion that were recurrence-free at 12 month wa 0.6 ± 0.15 for the AMT group and 0.95 ± 0.07 for the CAG group (P = .0003, Log-rank tet). The cumulative nonrecurrence rate at 6 and 12 month in all patient tratified by age and gender wa not ignificantly different. No major complication were oberved in either group. The author conclude that amniotic membrane tranplantation ha an unacceptably high recurrence rate compared to conjunctival autograft tranplantation a adjunctive therapy following exciion of pterygium.—Michael D. Wagoner