Treatment of the primary pterygium by pterygium excision with intraoperative application of mitomycin C within 3 minutes

ABSTRACT

The authors evaluated the efficacy of intraoperative application of mitomycin C 0.4 mg/1 ml x 3 minutes in primary pterygium excision and compared this method with other’s. 166 patients (170 eyes) with primary pterygium were asigned randomly to 3 groups group 1 received pterygium excision with intraoperative application of 0.4 mg/1 ml mitomycin C for 3 minutes (58 eyes 14 eyes with pterygium. II degree, 44 with pterygium III-IV degree); group 2 received conjunctival autograf (56 eyes; 12 with pterygium II degree, 44 with pterrygium III-IV degree). Patients were followed 1,3,6 and >12 months after operation. Results: after a folow-up time there were not recurrences in patients of group 1 and 2; recurrences developed only in 15 (26.77%) of 56 eyes in group 3. There were not complications in and after operation. Conclusion: this study indicates that intraoperative application of mitomycin C in primary pterygium excision is an effective treatment for prevention of recurrence of pterygium.