Terlipressin is the only drug that has been shown to improve survival rate of patients with liver cirrhosis suffering from esophageal hemorrhage or bleeding of gastric varices, but has only been used for a maximum of 48 hours. Somatostatin and octreotide have significantly fewer side effects compared to terlipressin. They have been given for up to 5 days, and have been shown to have similar effects to other drugs and injection sclerotherapy in recent trials, however, there is evidence for a better efficacy of somatostatin compared to octreotide. But these studies are not consistent. The interpretation of the results of randomized controlled trials is difficult because they mainly interprete clinical data rather than analyzing the statistical efficacy. Evidence for this statement is the fact that the more recent the publication date is the less effective sclerotherapy appears to be. This reflects different assessments of endpoints. As drugs are expensive, it is important to establish good evidence for their use particularly for a prolonged period of 5 days. Further studies investigating the combined use of endoscopic therapy and vasoactive drugs are required in which the endpoints are precisely defined.

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1999
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