title: Comparison of clinical efficacy of three surgical methods in the treatment of pterygium.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate and compare the efficacy of amniotic membrane transplantation, corneal limbus stem cell conjunctival transplantation and pedicle conjunctival flap transposition in the treatment of pterygium.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 155 patients with pterygium were retrospectively analysed: 53 cases who received amniotic membrane transplantation, 41 who underwent corneal limbus stem cells conjunctival transplantation, and 63 patients who had pedicle conjunctival flap transposition.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patients in the three groups had no significant differences in terms of age, times since surgery, or extent of pterygium extension onto the cornea (F:1.194, 0.639, 0.140 respectively; all P>0.05). A total of 137 out of 155 patients (88.4%) completed 6 months of follow up. The recurrence rates of pterygium for the three surgeries (amniotic membrane transplantation, corneal limbus stem cells conjunctival transplantation and pedicle conjunctival flap transposition) were 14.6%, 13.9% and 7.7%, respectively. No significant difference was identified when comparing the recurrence rate between any two groups (X2: 0.008, 1.211 and 0.890; P: 0.593, 0.218 and 0.276). Five patients presented with postoperative complications, including 3 cases of sub-conjunctival hemorrhage, 1 case of amniotic membrane dissolution, and 1 case of conjunctival cyst, accounting for 3.64% of all participants.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These three surgical methods are equally effective in preventing the recurrence of pterygium after excision.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Kaiping Center Hospital, Guangdong Province, China. yu2228717@yahoo.com.cn
authors.forename: Chaoming
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Weiliang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.forename: Yongyu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Weiwen
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Guan
mesh_terms: D000650:Amnion / Q000637:transplantation*; D003228:Conjunctiva / Q000637:transplantation*; D003560:Cysts / Q000209:etiology; D005130:Eye Hemorrhage / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D016850:Limbus Corneae / Q000166:cytology*; D008297:Male; D011183:Postoperative Complications; D011625:Pterygium / Q000601:surgery*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D033581:Stem Cell Transplantation / Q000379:methods*; D013524:Surgical Flaps / Q000637:transplantation; D016896:Treatment Outcome