Comparison of Effectiveness of Injection Sclerotherapy and Rubber Band Ligation for Second-Degree Hemorrhoids

Jahanzaib Babar, Maria Ahmed, Hina Khan, Khursheed Ahmed Samo

Abstract

Objective:

To compare the effectiveness of injection sclerotherapy (IST) and rubber band ligation (RBL) for second-degree hemorrhoids.

Study Design:

Comparative study.

Place and Duration of study:

Surgical Unit 3, Civil Hospital Karachi, from August 2020 to February 2021.

Methodology:

A total of 162 patients with the diagnosis of second degree hemorrhoids were included. They were randomly assigned into two groups of 81 patients each. In group I, 5%  phenol in almond oil was used for sclerotherapy and in group R, rubber band ligation was performed. In a single sitting only two hemorrhoids were injected. Rubber bands were applied to all the hemorrhoids in single sitting by using Barron's gun. Effectiveness was labelled when no bleeding per rectum and prolapse of hemorrhoids occurred. Data were entered into SPSS version 20. The success of the two groups was compared by using Chi-square test. A p-value of <0.05 was taken as significant.

Results:

The mean age of the patients was 43.64±11.27 year. There were 97 (59.9%) male and 65 (40.1%) female patients. Baseline characteristics were comparable between the two groups. Injection sclerotherapy was effective in 66.7% (54/81) of the patients while rubber band ligation was effective in 81.5% (66/81) of the patients. This was statistically significant in favor of rubber band group (p=0.03).

Conclusion:

The outcome of rubber band ligation procedure was superior to the injection sclerotherapy group. It was found safe with low complication rate.

Key Words:

Hemorrhoids, Injection sclerotherapy, Rubber band ligation