Pulsed Doppler flow as a criterion of portal venous velocity: comparison with cineangiographic measurements.

Abstract

An ultrasonic sector scanner and pulsed Doppler flowmeter were combined to measure portal venous velocity in 19 patients with portal hypertension and compared with cineangiographic mapping of a droplet of oil released into the portal vein. In 12 patients, measurements were made before and after pitressin [7] or ranitidine [5]. With the Doppler method, maximum basal portal venous velocity was 17.0 +/- 3.9 cm/sec., while average cineangiographic velocity was 8.5 +/- 2.7 cm/sec., a significant difference (p less than 0.001). After pitressin, velocity decreased to 8.3 +/- 2.7 cm/sec. with the Doppler method and 3.6 +/- 1.0 cm/sec. with cineangiography. Ranitidine did not produce an appreciable change. Doppler and cineangiographic velocity measurements exhibited significant correlation over a wide range of values (r = 0.960). Thus the pulsed Doppler method may give accurate values of portal venous velocity if they are corrected to cineangiographic values. Flow can be calculated from velocity and the cross-sectional area of the portal vein as measured on the sonogram. The Doppler method is simple and noninvasive and is particularly useful in studying changes in portal hemodynamics.

Morphological and hemodynamic changes in the portal venous system after distal splenorenal shunt: An ultrasound and pulsed doppler study

“…3.3 cm per sec), well below that usually found in normal and even in cirrhotic patients (16). In addition, the Doppler study demonstrated absence of flow in two cases and reversal flow in another one.…”

Hepatic vein Doppler waveform changes in early stage (Child-Pugh A) chronic parenchymal liver disease

“…Because of the difficulties in standardizing the quantitative measurement of velocity, diameter, and flow in the hepatic veins and inferior vena cava, only qualitative judgments of direction and configuration of the velocity profile were attempted in these vessels. [5][6][7] Abnormalities of hepatic veins can occur in different diseases (eg, marked hepatomegaly, severe fatty infiltration, Budd-Chiari syndrome, cardiac failure, constrictive pericarditis, portal hypertension, tricuspid regurgitation). In these diseases Doppler waveform may be changed by the underlying pathology.…”

“…8 In liver cirrhosis, there is a special interest in the Doppler examination. 5,9,10 However this technique has been used for the portal vein, its branches, and the hemodynamics of collaterals. In this pathological situation, Doppler studies of hepatic veins had not been carried out carefully until a short time ago.…”

Doppler study of mesenteric, hepatic, and portal circulation in alcoholic cirrhosis: Relationship between quantitative doppler measurements and the severity of portal hypertension and hepatic failure

“…The first parameters studied were focused on the portal vein blood flow. [1][2][3] More recently, other parameters have been suggested for the study of the hepatic and superior mesenteric arteries, in which blood flow may be altered by liver diseases affecting mesenteric and hepatic arterial resistances. [4][5][6] It has been shown that portal as well as hepatic and splanchnic arterial Doppler parameters are significantly different in patients with liver disease and healthy subjects.…”