Rubber band ligation (RB) is considered a minimally invasive method for the treatment of hemorrhoidal disease (HD) and has advantages in relation to hemorrhoidectomy whereby: simplicity of execution, outpatient realization and no need of anesthesia. It is an effective method, especially in the HD grade II. However, shows complications, and the most frequents are: anal pain, tenesmus, hematochezia and urinary retention. Some studies have shown severe complications as major bleeding that needs blood transfusion. Thus, this study evaluated the effectiveness and the morbidity of the treatment of HD by the method of RB. It was a prospective study with 59 patients. Five (8,5%) patients had HD graded in the first degree, 33 (55,9%) in the second degree and 21 (35,6%) in the third. All patients were submitted to at least two sessions. In the 135 sessions performed, we found: hematochezia in 62 (45.9%), severe pain in 39 (28.9%), vagal symptoms in 10 (7.4%) and pseudostrangulation in 1 (0.7%) session. The cure rate of hemorrhoidal prolapse among patients with HD grade II was 87.9% and among those with HD grade III, 76.2%. The treatment of HD by the method of RB proved to be safe and with good cure rate.
hemorrhoid; rubber band ligation; complications
