Short-term in vivo morphological changes of amniotic membrane after fibrin glue-assisted pterygium surgery on anterior segment optical coherence tomography: a case presentation

BACKGROUND: The evaluations of morphological changes of amniotic membrane (AM), even after successful AM transplantation surgery without complications, may be difficult. Moreover, there was no report regarding morphological changes after fibrin glue-assisted AM transplantation with pterygium excision. Here, we highlight and describe the use of spectral domain optical coherence tomography (OCT) for the evaluation of the morphological features of amniotic membrane (AM) and of associated in vivo structural changes after fibrin glue-assisted pterygium surgery. CASE PRESENTATION: All three patients underwent cryo-preserved AM transplantation using the permanent inlay technique (epithelial side up) with fibrin glue. In vivo morphological changes of AMs were evaluated using a spectral domain OCT equipped with an anterior segment imaging module (RTVue-100, Optovue, Inc., Fremont, CA, USA). Anterior segment OCT examinations demonstrated morphological changes, that is, re-absorption of fibrin glue or subconjunctival hemorrhage, migration of epithelium, and integration of AM into sclera, of AMs over first postoperative months. CONCLUSIONS: Anterior segment OCT might provide additional structural information, including quantitative and qualitative data, on AMs after pterygium surgery as compared with conventional slit-lamp examination.