Pterygium – A clinicopathologic study

Abstract

To correlate histopathologic features with clinical types of pterygia that may influence the management strategies. Prospective clinico-pathological study. This study was conducted at Malla Reddy Narayana Multispeciality Hospital, affiliated to Malla Reddy Medical College for Women, between June 2020 and February 2022. This study comprised of 52 eyes with primary pterygium that underwent surgical excision followed by a graft. Clinical features of the pterygia like their dimensions over the ocular surface, redness (congestion), fleshiness (assessed by amount of concealment of episcleral vessels) and flattening of Plica Semilunaris were evaluated. Excised pterygia were evaluated for histopatologic characteristics like vascularity, leucocyte infiltration, subepithelial and stromal fibrosis and leucocyte infiltraton. The dimensions of the pterygium were positively correlated with the extent of redness and fleshiness. Plica semilunaris was flattened correlating with the length and width of the pterygium. Vascular density and stromal elastosis were reflected clinically in significant fleshiness of the pterygium. Histopathology, with morphological and clinical characteristics, forms the basis of the assessment of the evolution and the growth of perygium. The clinical nature of the perygium is correlated with histopathological variables.