Study	Reason for exclusion
Celinska‐Cedro 2003	An observational study. The study included 37 children with portal hypertension (22 with liver cirrhosis and 15 with portal vein thrombosis) who underwent primary prophylaxis with endoscopic variceal ligation with an average follow‐up time of 16 months. No variceal bleeding occurred during the study period. Considered for report on harm. No serious adverse events of variceal ligation were reported.
De BK, 1999	All patients in the trial were adults. Prospective, randomised trial assessing endoscopic variceal ligation for primary prophylaxis of oesophageal variceal bleeding. 30 cirrhotic patients with portal, grade III to IV oesophageal varices, hepatic venous pressure gradient ≥12 mmHg, and no prior history of upper gastrointestinal bleeding were randomised to receive propranolol or endoscopic band ligation.
Galand 2018	The study assessed the effectiveness of primary prophylaxis of digestive haemorrhage by oesophageal variceal ligation in comparison to secondary prophylaxis. 30 patients were included in the primary prophylaxis group (median age 7.7 years, range 1.2 to 18 years), and 15 in the secondary prophylaxis group (median age 4.7 years, range 1.5 to 14 years). Endoscopic characteristics were similar between the two groups at inclusion, except for the number of gastric varices and the number of elastics used. Variceal bleeding rates were comparable between the two groups (17% compared to 27%, non significant). Kaplan‐Meier analysis showed non‐significant differences in bleeding‐free survival between the two groups, and there was no significant difference in very early bleeding rates. The study was considered for report on harm.
Grothaus 2010	All patients in the trial were adults. Retrospective trial assessing risk factors for bleeding complications after endoscopic variceal ligation. Not a randomised clinical trial.
Lay 1997	All patients in the trial were adults. Prospective, randomised trial that aimed to determine the efficacy of endoscopic variceal ligation in prophylaxis of first oesophageal variceal bleeding. This trial included 126 cirrhotic patients with no history of previous upper gastrointestinal bleeding and with oesophageal varices endoscopically judged to be at high risk of bleeding.
Lo 1999	All patients in the trial were adults. Prospective, randomised trial conducted to determine whether prophylactic banding ligation is beneficial for cirrhotic patients with high‐risk oesophageal varices. A total of 127 cirrhotic patients with endoscopically‐assessed high‐risk oesophageal varices but no history of bleeding were randomised to undergo banding ligation (64 patients) or to serve as controls (63 patients).
Nijhawan 1995	Non‐randomised, retrospective study of secondary prophylaxis in 15 children with portal hypertension due to extrahepatic portal vein thrombosis, with a history of upper gastrointestinal bleeding.
Ouakaa‐Kchaou 2011	The study was excluded because it assessed a different intervention than the one of interest to our review. Retrospective multi‐centre, non‐randomised study assessing the efficacy and side effects of endoscopic band ligation for the primary and secondary prophylaxis of oesophageal variceal bleeding. The study included 603 patients (10 to 95 years of age) with portal hypertension, who were hospitalised to receive treatment with endoscopic ligation. Most participants received beta‐blockers as well.