Abstract: Objective The aim of this study was to observe the efficacy of esophageal variceal ligation (EVL) and transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) in treatment of patients with liver cirrhosis (LC) and esophageal varices bleeding (EVB). Methods 74 patients with LC complicated by EVB were admitted to our hospital between October 2016 and October 2018, and the EVL was carried out in 34 cases and the TIPS was performed in 40 patients. All patients were followed-up for 2 years. Results The EVL and TIPS were successfully completed in our patients after emergent hemostasis; at the end of two weeks, there was no significant difference as respect to liver function index or peripheral blood parameters in the two groups (P＞0.05); the incidences of post-operational complications in EVL-treated patients was 88.2%, much higher than 40.0% in TIPS-intervened patients (P＜0.05); during the two-year follow-up, the incidences of post-operational re-bleeding of esophageal varices were not significantly different between the two groups (41.2% vs. 35.0%, P＞0.05); the fatality rate in EVL-treated patients was 20.6%, not significantly different compared to 10.0% in patients who received TIPS (P＞0.05). Conclusion The efficacy of EVL and TIPS in dealing with patients with EVB is similar, while taking the post-operational complications into consideration, we recommend the latter for priority, which warrants further investigation.

Key words: Liver cirrhosis, Esophageal varices bleeding, Esophageal variceal ligation, Transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt, Therapy