Comparison of the surgical outcome and cost effectiveness of autologous blood with electrocautery pen and fibrin glue in the limbal conjunctival autografting for the treatment of primary pterygium.

ABSTRACT

Introduction: There are various techniques available for securing limbal conjunctival auto graft in the treatment of primary pterygium. purpose of this study to compare the surgical outcome and cost effectiveness of a new techniqueautologous blood with electrocautery pen and current standard of fibrin glue. Materials and methods: This retrospective study was carried out in 76 patients presented with primarypterygia who underwent pterygium surgery using autologous blood with ecp (36 eyes) and fibrin glue (40 eyes). all patients were followed up post operatively on 1stday, 7thdayand 6th month. during follow up,patients were assessed for graft displacement or loss and comfort. cost of the surgery was also compared. Results: No intraoperative complications occurred in either group. out of 36 patients, 4 graft dislodgements occurred in autologous blood with ecp group on the immediate post-operative day. while none in fibrin glue group. during the 6 months follow-up, 6 eyes in group i (16.7%) and 1 eye in group 2 (2.5%) developed recurrence. Conclusion: Autologous blood with ecp in conjunctival autografting is as effective as fibrin glue in terms of graft adherence and post-operative patient comfort. however, this method is 3 times cost effective than the commercially available fibrin glue.