Grade II-III Hemorrhoidal Disease Treatment: Rubber Band Ligation versus Hemorrhoidal Artery Ligation

Abstract

Aim: Comparison the application and effectiveness of hemorrhoidal artery ligation (HAL) and rubber band ligation (RBL) techniques in the treatment of grade II and III hemorrhoidal disease. Method: HAL was performed in 50 patients between December 2006 and May 2007 and RBL was performed in 96 patients between August 2011 and October 2014. A total of 146 patients with grade II-III hemorrhoidal disease were included in this retrospective study. Surgery duration, performed ligations, pain on postoperative day 7 visual analog scale, complications, and ratio of symptom-free patients at 6 months were statistically analyzed for both procedures. Results: Patients who underwent HAL returned to work earlier and had less pain on postoperative day 7 than those who underwent RBL; in addition, the RBL procedure was statistically more cost-effective and had shorter surgery times. There was no statistical difference between the HAL and RBL groups in proportion of patients who were symptom-free at postoperative 6 months (94% and 96.6%, respectively). Conclusion: The RBL and HAL procedures are both effective and have low complication, and can be used safely together or separately in the treatment of grade II-III hemorrhoidal disease.

Keywords

• Hemorrhoidal disease
• rubber band ligation
• hemorrhoidal artery ligation