Role of concanavalin A lectin in recognition of pterygium remnant after surgical excision: preliminary results of a prospective study

• Published in: Indian journal of ophthalmology 2007-09, Vol.55 (5), p.349-353
• Main Authors: Díaz-González, Juan A, Mayoral-Chávez, Miguel A, Bohórquez, Paulina Leyva, de la Torre, Ma del Pilar Gabriel, Hernández-Cruz, Pedro, Martínez-Cruz, Ruth, Pérez-Campos, Eduardo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Animals; Biological products industry; Concanavalin A; Concanavalin A lectin; Conjunctiva - pathology; Conjunctiva - surgery; Diagnosis, Differential; Disease Models, Animal; Follow-Up Studies; Humans; Middle Aged; Mitogens; Original; Photomicrography; Postoperative Care - methods; Prospective Studies; pterygium; Pterygium - diagnosis; Pterygium - surgery; Rats; Recurrence; Reproducibility of Results
• ISSN: 0301-4738; 1998-3689
• DOI: 10.4103/0301-4738.33820

Pterygium is one of the most common conjunctival diseases among ophthalmic pathologies. The frequency of recurrences is high, either after surgical treatment or after treatment combined with mitomycin C or beta-radiation therapy. The purpose of this study was to determine whether concanavalin A (ConA) lectin bound to the pterygial surface can be used to detect recurrence or remnants of pterygium after surgical excision. This was a prospective study on 20 patients with pterygium, divided in five stages, pre-surgery, early post-surgery (24h), late post-surgery (seven days), very late post-surgery (four weeks) and two months after the procedure. A drop of fluorescein-marked Con A (35 microg/mL) was instilled in the lower conjunctival eyelid sac and the eye was exposed to the light of a Wood's lamp for an average of five seconds. Out of the 20 patients, eight patients were found to have fluorescent stretch marks over the scar corresponding to residual pterygial tissue at four weeks; two months after the procedure of re-surgery we observed no fluorescent remnants. All residual pterygia were confirmed through histochemistry studies. It was possible to detect remnants of pterygium in postoperative patients and recurrences in early pre-clinical stages through the visualization of fluorescent ConA bound to the pterygial surface.