A new approach to esophageal varices: endoscopic variceal ligation.

Bleeding from esophageal varices is a devastating complication of portal hypertension and is associated with a high mortality rate. The management goals for this group of patients are to achieve hemostasis in the acute phase, reduce variceal size, reduce the potential of rebleeding and eliminate varices with a follow-up program. For the past two decades, the gold standard of treatment has been endoscopic sclerotherapy but at the expense of many complications, which often cause serious morbidity. Endoscopic variceal ligation was developed as an alternative to endoscopic sclerotherapy. The experience to date shows that the goals of therapy can be achieved with fewer complications than those associated with sclerotherapy.