Hemorrhoidal Artery Ligation and Rectoanal Repair Versus Stapled Hemorrhoidopexy

Background: Hemorrhoids of grade 3 and 4 can be treated either by conventional, rather invasive procedures, like Milligan-Morgan or Ferguson or by modern, less invasive procedures with less postoperative pain. Doppler guided hemorrhoidal artery ligation and stapled hemorrhoidopexy are examples for such modern procedures. Hemorrhoidal artery ligation causes less post operative pain than stapled hemorrhoidopexy, however the former has a higher recurrence rate. Combining hemorrhoidal artery ligation with rectoanal repair should reduce the recurrence rate without increasing the post operative pain. Hypothesis and aim: The study tries to prove the assumption that combined hemorrhoidal artery ligation and rectoanal repair cause less pain and have less post operative complications than stapled hemorrhoidopexy.