الفهرس 
Introduction and Aim of workOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Although various treatment approaches including surgical procedures, beta-irradiation and medications have been proposed for the treatment of pterygium, the common problem after these applications is recurrence. When surgical techniques proposed for primary pterygium are applied in recurrent cases, secondary recurrence is increased. The recurrence rate has been estimated as high as 30% to 70%.
Treatments such as radiation therapy, the use of antimetabolites, or the use
of antineoplastic agents have succeeded in diminishing the number of
recurrences from between 5% and 12%. However, serious complications are
associated with these methods of treatment, such as severe secondary glaucoma, cataracts, uveitis, corneal perforation, and scleral necrosis, resulting in perforation and secondary endophthalmitis.
In 1985, Kenyon and collaborators introduced the conjunctival autograft
for the treatment of recurrent or advanced pterygium. Although this surgical
technique is more time consuming, it has reduced the number of recurrences
with the same efficacy as the previously described treatments without the risk of potentially serious complications.
Recently some works have emphasized the importance of limbal stem cells
as the cause of pterygia and the role that a healthy limbus plays as a barrier to conjunctival overgrowth. Conceptually, one could possibly reduce the number of pterygium recurrences by including the limbus in the conjunctival autograft used in the surgical technique of Kenyon. In addition, one should not expect a greater number of complications because we are only moving a limited area of limbus without losing a significant amount of stem cells.
The goals of this study were to compare LCAT with MMC with respect to
rate of recurrence in the treatment of primary pterygia .
In this work we presented our results of pterygium excision with MMC application compared to limbal conjunctival autografts in 40
cases of primary pterygia , where recurrence was more with MMC than in LCAT. So, limbal allograft is safe and effective surgical management for cases of primary pterygium. We found LCAT provides excellent cosmetic results and avoids vision threatening complications. Further prospective randomized studies involving larger group of patients are required to support the findings of this study.