Abstract:

Objective   To evaluate the clinical effect of limbal stem cell transplantation and amniotic membrane transplantation in the treatment of pterygium by evidence based medicine.  Methods   Clinical data of effect in limbal stem cell transplantation and amniotic membrane transplantation were collected from computer literature searching, which was carried out in PubMed,  EMBASE, Wanfang and VIP database etc, also performed searching based on www.baidu.com and www.google.com. Meta analysis that recommended by Cochrane Collaboration was done for the data obtained that 3126 eyes that met with the eleven criteria of enrollment were included in this study. Publication bias was assessed by using a funnel plot.  Results   The results of metaanalysis showed that 35 RCTs evaluated the pterygium recurrent rate after grafting including 3126 eyes, the incidence rate including 1108 eyes, and the mean time of corneal epithelium wound healing including 900 eyes. In comparison with the amniotic membrane transplantation group, the recurrent rates of pterygium (P＜0.00001)and the total complication rate (P=0.01)were lower in the limbal stem cell transplantation group. Moreover, the mean time of corneal epithelium wound healing was shorter in the limbal stem cell transplantation group.  Conclusion   Corneal limbal stem cell autograft is an effective way to reduce the recurrent rate of pterygium and the incidence of symblepharon and to accelerate the healing of corneal wound comparing with amniotic membrane transplantation．

Key words: Limbal, Metaanalysis, Pterygium, Amniotic membrane, Transplantation