Muhammad Shoaib Khan, Zafar Niaz, Sami Ullah Mumtaz, Areej Azhar Siddiqui, Somia Iqtadar, Sajid Abaidulla.
Comparison of Carvedilol and Endoscopic Band Ligation for the Prevention of Variceal Bleed in patients of Cirrhosis.
J Pak Society Int Med Jan ;2(4):327-9.

Objective: To compare carvedilol & endoscopic band ligation (EBL) for the prevention of variceal bleed in patients of cirrhosis. Methods: This was a randomized control trial done at North Medical Unit, Mayo Hospital, Lahore from 1st December 2016 to 30th May 2017. After ethical approval of study, 250 patients of cirrhosis were taken through non-probability purposive sampling technique. Informed consent was taken from each patient. After taking demographic details patients were randomly divided into two groups by using simple lottery method. In group A, patients received carvedilol 12.5mg daily orally and in group B, EBL was done using a multibander device. Then patients were followed for 6 months afterwards for variceal bleed. The frequency of variceal bleed in two groups was compared by using Chi square test. P value < 0.05 was considered significant. Results: The mean age was 53.06 +- 14.50 years. There were 41.2% females & 58.8% males. Variceal bleed (VB) was observed in 22 patients in which 6 patients were of carvedilol group and 16 were of EBL group. There was significant difference between two groups in response to therapy of VB i.e. p-value=0.026 was significant. Conclusion: Carvedilol was more effective for VB prevention as compared to EBLin cirrhotic patients.

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