M. Koda et al., PORTAL BLOOD VELOCITY AND PORTAL BLOOD-FLOW IN PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC VIRAL-HEPATITIS - RELATION TO HISTOLOGICAL LIVER FIBROSIS, Hepato-gastroenterology, 43(7), 1996, pp. 199-202
Background/Aims: This study represents an. attempt to correlate portal
hemodynamics in patients with chronic hepatitis. Materials and Method
s: Portal blood velocity and portal blood flow were determined using t
he duplex Doppler system in 47 patients with chronic viral hepatitis,
and findings were compared with the hepatic histological features. Res
ults: Portal blood velocity decreased with the progress of chronic hep
atitis, and closely correlated with the histological degree of liver f
ibrosis (p<0.0001). The portal blood velocity in patients who had seve
re bridging fibrosis was significantly lower than that in the patients
who had mild bridging fibrosis. However, the portal blood flow in, pa
tients with chronic persistent hepatitis and chronic active hepatitis
was comparable with that in the controls, and did not correlated with
liver histological findings. Conclusions: These findings suggest that
the portal blood velocity is a more sensitive indicator for assessing
portal hemodynamics than portal blood flow in chronic viral hepatitis,
and may be a useful test for differentiating chronic hepatitis with s
evere fibrosis from chronic hepatitis with mild fibrosis.