ABSTRACT
Objective
Compare the thickness of conjunctival autografts in pterygium surgery using the Moscovici dissection technique with manual dissection and assess the difficulty of the techniques.
Methods
In this randomized clinical trial, 30 eyes of 30 patients undergoing pterygium surgery were divided into the Moscovici Dissection Technique Group and the Manual Dissection Group. The patients were treated at the Hospital Oftalmológico Visão Laser (Santos, São Paulo, Brazil). Optical coherence tomography was performed to measure graft thickness three months postoperatively. Three images were obtained from each eye, and three measurements were taken at a distance of 1.5mm perpendicular to the limbus in each capture. The surgeon graded the difficulty of obtaining the graft with the technique performed from one (lowest difficulty) to four (highest difficulty).
Results
We found statistically significant difference between the difficulty of the two techniques and the mean conjunctival autograft thickness in the two groups (p=0.01 e p=0.05, respectively). The average difficulty rating for the Moscovici Dissection Technique Group (Air Group) was 1.47, while that for the Manual Dissection Group (MD group) was 2.20. The mean thickness of the three measurements was 252µ in the Air Group and 298µ in the MD Group, with medians of 250µ and 278µ, respectively.
Conclusion
Our study showed that the Moscovici technique results in thinner grafts and can be performed with greater surgical ease.
Conjunctiva; Graft; Moscovici dissection; Pterygium
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