Abstract: It is well established that variceal hemorrhage is one of the most common and severe complications in patients with liver cirrhosis and portal hypertension. Despite the advances in the last three decades in its treatment, mortality from variceal bleeding is still around 15%~20%. Moreover,variceal bleeding often leads to deterioration of liver functions. Furthermore,it is a common trigger for other complications of liver cirrhosis. Therefore, primary and secondary preventions of variceal hemorrhageare important strategy for improving the survival in patients with decompensated liver cirrhosis and esophageal varices. Nonselective beta-blockers（NSBB） have been shown to reduce the hepatic venous portal pressure gradient and are recommended for the prevention of the first variceal hemorrhage and rebleeding. The advantages of NSBB therapy are good tolerance,oral administrationand lowcost.However,the indication of NSBB should be limited to patientswith a high risk of variceal bleeding because of the potential side effects of the therapy.