Effects of corneal limbal stem cells autograft transplantation combined with application of mitomycin on post-surgical recurrence of pterygium

Objective To investigate the therapeutic difference between microsurgical excision of pterygium combined with corneal limbal stem cells autograft transplantation together with mitomycin application and traditional simple excision under microscope.Methods 46 eyes from 39 patients were involved in the present study and randomly divided into two groups,with 23 eyes in each group.Simple excision group only received microsurgerical resection of pterygium.Joint operation group underwent microscopical operation of pterygium excision,followed by the treatment of mitomycin(0.02%)and corneal limbal stem cells autograft transplantation.Thereafter,all cases were followed up for 12 months,and the recurrence of pterygium was observed.Results Based on the 4 postoperative status of pterygium,2 recurrent cases were found in patients receiving the treatment of corneal limbal stem cells autograft transplantation combined with mitomycin application,but 8 cases in the group of simply microsurgical resection.Conclusion Microsurgical excision combined with corneal limbal stem cells autograft transplantation and mitomycin application could significantly reduce the recurrence rate of pterygium compared with simply microsurgical operation(P0.05).