Endoscopic rubber band ligation, injection sclerotherapy, and sclerobanding for the treatment of internal hemorrhoids

Figure 1 Three endoscopic methods for the treatment of internal hemorrhoids. A: Endoscopic rubber band ligation: Rubber bands were placed at the rectal mucosa or hemorrhoidal base; B: Injection sclerotherapy: Polidocanol liquid was injected into the hemorrhoidal base; C: Endoscopic polidocanol sclerobanding: Rubber bands were applied following the injection of the sclerosant.

Figure 2 Flowchart of patients’ inclusion, exclusion, and intervention. ERBL: Endoscopic rubber band ligation; IS: Injection sclerotherapy; ESB: Endoscopic polidocanol sclerobanding.

Figure 3 Bar graph illustrating the clinical efficacy rates of the three procedures at 3 months postoperatively. Purple bars represent the “ineffective” rate, blue bars represent the “improved” rate, and orange bars represent the “cured” rate, with numerical values indicating the proportions. ERBL: Endoscopic rubber band ligation; IS: Injection sclerotherapy; ESB: Endoscopic polidocanol sclerobanding.

Figure 4 Comparison of the distribution of visual analog scale scores and pain durations for the three methods in grade I and grade II-III hemorrhoids. A: Comparison of visual analog scale scores; B: Comparison of pain durations. Dots represent the actual values for each group, purple pentagrams indicate the mean, black lines denote the median, and the width of the kernel smoothing curve reflects data density. ERBL: Endoscopic rubber band ligation; IS: Injection sclerotherapy; ESB: Endoscopic polidocanol sclerobanding.

Figure 5 Bar graph depicting the recurrence rates for the three procedures. The left side bars of the figure show short-term recurrence, while the remaining bars indicate total recurrence. Gray bars represent recurrence, and white bars indicate no recurrence. ERBL: Endoscopic rubber band ligation; IS: Injection sclerotherapy; ESB: Endoscopic polidocanol sclerobanding.