The Value of Portal Vein Diameter in Evaluation of Chronic Liver Disease

Abstract

Background: Chronic liver disease (CLD) such as cirrhosis is a risk factor for hepatocellular carcinoma and as such requires a reliable diagnostic surveillance. Hemodynamic changes are detected early using ultrasound scan. Ultrasound has been found to be an accurate and noninvasive method of assessing the portal vein hemodynamic changes in patients with CLD. Materials and Methods: This was a prospective case–control study conducted over a period of 6 months at the Federal Teaching Hospital, Gombe between September 2015 and February 2016. Portal vein diameter (PVD) of 100 adult male and female CLD patients were compared with 100 age- and sex-matched controls. Ultrasonography of the portal vein was used using HD-9 Phillips (2010) ultrasound machine. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) Windows version 20.0 package was used for data analysis, with P ≤ 0.05 was considered statistically significant with a confidence interval of 95%. The variables were expressed as range and mean ± standard deviation. All comparison of variables was done using the Student’s t-test for CLD and control. Pearson’s correlation coefficients and point-biserial correlation coefficient were used for the correlation analysis. Results: The mean PVD in normal subjects was 1.07 ± 0.60 cm and the respective value for CLD subjects was 1.50 ± 0.21 cm. There was a statistically significant difference in PVD between normal and CLD subjects (P = 0.001). The PVD correlated positively with age and sex in both CLD and controls. Conclusion: The PVD was significantly higher in CLD subjects than controls. PVD correlated significantly with age and sex in both CLD subjects and controls.