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Review
. 2016 Mar 18;9(3):465-8.
doi: 10.18240/ijo.2016.03.25. eCollection 2016.

Mitomycin C in pterygium treatment

Thiago Gonçalves Dos Santos Martins  1 , Ana Luiza Fontes de Azevedo Costa  2 , Milton Ruiz Alves  2 , Roger Chammas  2 , Paulo Schor  1
Affiliations
Review

Mitomycin C in pterygium treatment

Thiago Gonçalves Dos Santos Martins et al. Int J Ophthalmol. .

Abstract

Pterygium is a benign lesion usually growing from the nasal side of the conjunctiva onto the cornea. Most cases of pterygium does not cause problem or requires specific treatment. The exact cause of pterygium is not clear yet, but some factors are pointed as causes, being the most important the long-term ultraviolet ray exposure. Pterygium surgery is usually considered when there are symptoms that do not respond to conservative treatment. Recurrence is the main complication of the surgery, and much has been done to avoid it. Mitomycin C (MMC) has been used as a fibroblast proliferation inhibitor during the surgery to reduce the chance of recurrence of the pterygium. This review describes the use of MMC as an adjunctive, the optimal dosage, the duration of administration of MMC and possible complications, when used during, after and before the surgery. Most studies suggest that increased exposure (dose or duration) of MMC is associated with a lower recurrence, but with higher risks of complications.

Keywords: mitomycin C; pterygium surgery; recurrence rate.

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