Comparison of primary versus recurrent pterygium after intralesional 5-Fluorouracil

To compare the mean change in corneal astigmatism and clinical appearance after intralesional injection of 5-Fluorouracil in primary and recurrent pterygia.

The quasi-experimental study was conducted at the Armed Forces Institute of Ophthalmology, Rawalpindi, Pakistan, from June 2014 to April 2015. The patients were categorised into two groups. Group1 named GP comprised primary pterygia patients, while those of recurrent pterygia were in Group 2 named GR. All the patients were treated with 0.1ml intralesional 5-Fluorouracil 5mg weekly injections for 04 weeks. Ophthalmic clinical evaluation included uncorrected distant visual acuity, keratometery and slit lamp examination was performed before and 04 weeks after the treatment.

There were 86 eyes of 64 patients in the study. Mean uncorrected distant visual acuity of patients was 0.12±0.13 in GP and 0.26±0.17 in GR. Mean astigmatism before treatment was 1.75±1.08 in GP and 2.92±2.28 in GR. Same parameters 04 weeks after last injection were 1.66±1.17 and 2.64±1.78 in GP and GR respectively. All eyes had a statistically significant change in clinical appearance.

Intralesional 5-Fluorouracil injection improved cosmesis of primary as well as recurrent pterygia, but did not have statistically significant effect on corneal astigmatism.