Efficacy of sutureless and glue-free conjunctival autograft compared with sutured conjunctival autograft in pterygium surgery: a meta-analysis

This study compared sutureless and glue-free conjunctival autograft (SGC) with sutured conjunctival autograft (control) in pterygium surgery in terms of key outcome measures, including recurrence rate, complication rate, and surgical duration, to evaluate the efficacy and safety of SGC. A comprehensive search of five databases (PubMed, Web of Science, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang Data, and China Science and Technology Journal Database) was conducted to identify relevant studies. Dichotomous outcomes were analyzed using relative risk (RR), and continuous outcomes were analyzed using mean difference (MD). The 95% confidence intervals (CIs) provided a measure of the precision of the estimates. The study included a total of 1,233 eyes from 11 studies. The pooled estimates for recurrence rate (RR = 0.65; 95% CI, 0.42–1.01) and overall complication rate (RR = 1.24; 95% CI, 0.68–2.25) revealed no statistically significant differences between SGC and control groups. However, the pooled estimates for graft dehiscence (RR = 4.73; 95% CI, 1.29–17.28) and graft retraction (RR = 3.09; 95% CI, 1.56–6.15) indicated higher incidences of these complications in the SGC group. Furthermore, the analysis of surgical duration revealed a statistically significant reduction in surgical duration in the SGC group (MD= – 12.79; 95% CI, – 18.04 to – 7.53). This meta-analysis demonstrates that, compared with the control group, SGC can significantly shorten surgical duration without increasing the recurrence rate in the treatment of pterygium, although it is associated with higher rates of graft dehiscence and graft retraction.