The endoscopic variceal ligation(EVL) has been adopted as a new treatment for acute hemorrhage from esophageal varices that ranks the highest mortality rate in upper gastro-intestinal tract bleedings. This treatment method has good effects for
the
urgent treatment and eradication of varices from acute variceal bleeding in repeated sessions. We enrolled 34 patients with an acute or chronic variceal bleeding episode at the time of admission in this study from Apr. 8, 1992 to June. 2, 1994.
Among 34
patients, there were 31 males and 3 females, at ages between 45~66(mean:52 years). the incidence of symptoms on admission was 10 in tarry stool, 9 in hematemesis 8 in ascites, 4 in hepatic encephalopathy and 3 in nonspecific symptoms. Varices
were
eradicated or reduced to grade I in 30(88.2%) of the 34 patients by 4~25 bands (mean: 10.8 bands) in 1~7 EVL sessions(mean: 3.1 sessions). After EVL, there are complicated by active bleeding in 3 patients, dysphagia in 3 patients and transient
chest
discomfort in 5 patients but subsided during 24 hours. These results indicated that EVL is a safe method for treatment of bleeding from esophageal varices.
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