Short term outcome of rubber band ligation versus open hemorrhoidectomy in terms of postoperative complications

Objectives: to compare the outcome of rubber band ligation with open hemorrhoidectomy in short term and its suitability in our social set up. material and methods: one hundred and twenty patients were enrolled from november 2007 to may 2009. they were equally divided into group a (open hemorrhoidectomy) and group b (rubber band ligation). postoperative complications,recurrence and patient's satisfaction rate were recorded. results: pain was the most common complaint. about 91.7% of patients in group a while 15% in group b complained of pain which was significant (p-value = 0.001). immediate post-operative bleeding was 18.3% in group a and 6.7% in group b. transient flatus incontinence (5%) was recorded in group a,no incontinence in group b. anal stenosis was 0.3% in group a while no anal stenosis was recorded in b. recurrence rate was significantly higher in group b (13.3% p-value = 0.048). rate of satisfaction was higher in group a (93.3% versus 86.7%),but statistically it was not significant. conclusion: rubber band ligation is safe,effective method to treat the 2nd and 3rd degree hemorrhoids with less satisfaction than open hemorrhoidectomy which is statistically insignificant.