Occlusive Hepatic Venous Catheterization in the Study of the Normal Liver, Cirrhosis of the Liver and Noncirrhotic Portal Hypertension

The technic of occlusive venous catheterization has been applied to the liver. The pressure, measured in a small occluded hepatic vein and termed the wedged hepatic venous pressure, correlates well with the portal venous pressure in cats. An elevation of the wedged pressure in man, in the presence of a normal central venous pressure, is diagnostic of cirrhosis. This has proved to be of clinical value in the differentiation of intrahepatic from extrahepatic portal hypertension. The higher wedged hepatic venous pressures in cirrhosis are correlated with the presence of varices or jaundice, but not with the presence of ascites.