Intermittent sliding-lock-knot suture for limbal conjunctival autograft fixation in pterygium surgery: a technique note

• Published in: International journal of ophthalmology 2024-05, Vol.17 (5), p.838-844
• Main Authors: Zhang, Ling, Lyu, Run-Hua, Wang, Jing-Ru, Shi, Wen-Jian, Zheng, Feng, Gao, Ying-Ying
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Clinical Research; intermittent sliding-lock-knot fixation; pterygium; suture removal
• ISSN: 2222-3959; 2227-4898
• DOI: 10.18240/ijo.2024.05.07

To report a technique used with intermittent sliding-lock-knot (ISLK) fixation for limbal conjunctival autografts in pterygium surgery and compared with those of routine intermittent (RI) fixation. Consecutive patients with primary pterygium who had undergone pterygium excision combined with limbal conjunctival autograft transplantation between March 2021 and March 2022 at our institute were retrospectively analyzed. Primary outcome measures were mean duration of surgery and suture removal, degree of conjunctival hyperemia on postoperative day 1, pain score at suture removal, postoperative symptoms at 6mo, including conjunctival hyperemia, foreign body sensation, and graft stability. Ninety-eight patients underwent monocular surgery and were divided into ISLK (51 eyes) and RI (47 eyes) groups according to the type of conjunctiva autograft fixation method planned. There was no significant difference in mean duration of surgery between the two groups (18.59±2.39min 18.15±2.20min, =0.417); however, compared to the RI group, shorter suture removal times were observed in the ISLK group [0.58min (0.42-0.87) 3.00min (2.21-4.15),