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Published on: August 9, 2024
Risk factors for ocular surface squamous neoplasia recurrence after treatment with topical mitomycin C and interferon
Jenna Besley1, Juanita Pappalardo2, Graham A Lee3
1Department of Ophthalmology, City Eye Centre, Brisbane, Australia.
Purpose:
To determine the rate of recurrence and associated risk factors after the use of mitomycin C (MMC), interferon alpha-2b, or both for management of noninvasive ocular surface squamous neoplasia (OSSN).
Design:
Retrospective, noncomparative, interventional case series.
Methods:
Clinical practice setting of 135 patients treated consecutively with topical MMC (0.4 mg/mL), interferon alpha-2b (1 million units/mL), or both for OSSN observed for clinical recurrence.
Results:
Clinical recurrences were diagnosed in 19 (14.1%) of 135 eyes after topical treatment. The mean time to recurrence was 17.2 months (range, 4 to 61 months), with 14 eyes (73.7%) recurring within a 2-year period. There was no greater risk of recurrence identified for variables including lesion size, lesion location, gender, age, treatment type, or treatment duration. Post hoc log-rank pairwise comparisons revealed that lesions initially treated using surgery alone had significantly reduced time to recurrence (21.1 ± 5.6 months) compared with previous topical treatment with MMC (with or without surgery; 29.6 ± 4.7 months; P = .04) and primary OSSN (23.2 ± 1.8 months; P = .09).
Conclusions:
Topical MMC and interferon alpha-2b are an effective treatment method for a wide range of noninvasive OSSNs. Topical therapy avoids the morbidity of excisional surgery with equivalent or reduced recurrence rates and should be considered as primary therapy.
