Abstract:Objective To explore the efficacy of endoscopic ligation and sclerotherapy in treating patients with moderate and severe esophageal variceal bleeding and factors affecting the treatment outcomes.Methods This study consisted of two parts. On the one hand, a retrospective analysis was conducted on 147 patients with moderate and severe esophageal variceal bleeding admitted to the Department of Gastroenterology at Sichuan Friendship Hospital from May 2022 to December 2023. Among them, 60 patients were treated with endoscopic ligation (control group), while the other 87 patients were treated with endoscopic ligation and sequential sclerotherapy (study group). The therapeutic effects of the two groups were compared. On the other hand, a retrospective analysis was also conducted on 461 patients with moderate and severe esophageal variceal bleeding who underwent gastroscopic ligation and sequential sclerotherapy at the Department of Gastroenterology of Sichuan Friendship Hospital from May 2022 to December 2023. Among them, 420 patients achieved successful treatment (success group) and 42 patients experienced treatment failure (failure group). Baseline characteristics, disease profiles, and other data were compared between the two groups, and factors influencing treatment outcomes were analyzed.Results The differences of portal vein diameter and splenic vein diameter before and after the surgery were not different between the study group and the control group (P > 0.05). The differences of the flow velocity of portal vein and the portal venous flow before and after the surgery in the study group were higher than those in the control group (P < 0.05). The success rate of hemostasis in the study group was not different from that in the control group (P > 0.05). The ALB level and the rate of a first bleeding episode in the failure group were lower than those in the success group, whereas the proportion of severe esophageal varices, the proportion of patients with ascites, the proportion of patients with hypertension, and the proportion of patients with portal vein thrombosis in the failure group were higher than those in the success group (P < 0.05). The multivariable Logistic regression analysis revealed that decreased ALB levels [O^R = 0.547 (95% CI: 0.306, 0.976) ], first bleeding episode [O^R = 0.712 (95% CI: 0.538, 0.943) ], severe esophageal varices [O^R = 2.018 (95% CI: 1.179, 3.452) ], presence of ascites [O^R = 1.788 (95% CI: 1.085, 2.947) ], presence of hypertension [O^R = 1.941 (95% CI: 1.106, 3.406) ], and presence of portal vein thrombosis [O^R = 2.234 (95% CI: 1.239, 4.031) ] were factors contributing to hemostatic failure in patients with moderate and severe esophageal variceal bleeding treated with gastroscopic ligation and sequential sclerotherapy (P < 0.05).Conclusions Endoscopic ligation and sclerotherapy demonstrate effective hemostasis in patients with moderate and severe esophageal variceal bleeding and significantly improve portal venous blood flow parameters. Low ALB levels, recurrent bleeding, severe esophageal varices, presence of ascites, comorbid hypertension, and portal vein thrombosis are identified as independent risk factors for poor treatment outcomes in these patients.