Premium
Portal vein pulsatility in normal and cirrhotic adults without cardiac disease
Author(s) -
Wachsberg Ronald H.,
Needleman Laurence,
Wilson Dorian J.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
journal of clinical ultrasound
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.272
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1097-0096
pISSN - 0091-2751
DOI - 10.1002/jcu.1870230103
Subject(s) - medicine , pulsatile flow , cardiology , cirrhosis , vein , heart disease , inferior vena cava , portal vein , liver disease , blood flow , radiology
The literature indicates that Doppler demonstration of pulsatile flow in the portal vein suggests heart disease, and that retrograde transsinusoidal transmission of atrial pulsations is the mechanism. We noninvasively investigated portal vein pulsatility (PVP) in normal subjects and in patients with cardiac and liver disease, and performed invasive studies in cirrhotic humans and normal pigs. We found that accentuated PVP occurred in some normal subjects and in some patients with cirrhosis, and that mechanisms other than transsinusoidal transmission of atrial pulsations contributed to PVP. Determinants of PVP may include pulsatile portal inflow, transmission of pulsations from the vena cava (IVC) and location of the Doppler sample volume relative to the IVC. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.