Recurrence of Ocular Surface Squamous Neoplasia Treated With Excisional Biopsy and Cryotherapy

To evaluate the recurrence rate of ocular surface squamous neoplasias (OSSN) after excision and cryotherapy in an academic cornea practice and to determine factors associated with recurrence.

Retrospective interventional case series.

All cases of OSSN from 1998 through 2013 that were treated with excisional biopsy and adjunctive cryotherapy were retrospectively reviewed. Clinical characteristics upon presentation including size of lesion, location, and atypical features were noted. All recurrences of OSSN after excision and cryotherapy were noted and categorized in relation to clinical characteristics, pathologic grade, and margin involvement.

Forty-three cases of OSSN from 42 patients were analyzed with a median follow-up of 29 months. A total of 32.6% of subjects had dysplasia and 67.4% had squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). A total of 83.7% of subjects had both corneal and conjunctival involvement while 16.3% had conjunctival involvement only. Overall, 3 recurrences were observed, all of which had margin involvement; nonetheless, the majority of incompletely excised OSSN (25/28) showed no recurrence. The recurrence rate at 6 months was 2.3%. Recurrence at 1 year, 2 years, and 5 years remained stable at 7.1%.

Excision with cryotherapy is an effective treatment for the majority of OSSN cases, even among cases with pathologic evidence of tumor at the margin, with an overall recurrence rate of 7.1% at 1 year, 2 years, and 5 years.