Abstract

Study: Cross-sectional
Aim: To evaluate if pterygium has underlying pre-malignant potential based on histopathology (HPE) and immunohistochemistry (IHC).
Methods: 1008 pterygium and 68 OSSN samples underwent HPE for changes in epithelial and subepithelial layers to look for metaplasia, dysplasia and actinic changes. IHC was done for mutated p53, E-cadherin and CD44 to detect malignant potential
Results: Among pterygium samples, 11 (1.1%) showed OSSN and 607 (60.2%) showed epithelial changes of squamous metaplasia and actinic damage. 65 (95.5%) samples of OSSN showed underlying pterygium changes. IHC showed over-expression of p53 and variable expression of other markers in pterygium with squamous metaplasia and OSSN.Conclusion: Pterygium with squamous metaplasia showed mutated p53 indicating underlying pre-malignant potential and hence can turn into OSSN on repeated external stimuli like UV- rays exposure or oncogenic viral exposure.

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