Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of fatty infiltration of the liver (FIL) on the Doppler waveform pattern in the hepatic veins of obese children.
Methods: In this prospective study, 59 patients with diffuse FIL and 45 normal healthy children who served as control group underwent hepatic vein B-mod and duplex Doppler sonography. The Doppler sonography spectrum of the right hepatic vein was classified into three groups: triphasic waveform, biphasic waveform, and monophasic or flat waveform.
Results: There was a statistically significant difference in the phasicity of hepatic venous flow between patients and control subjects (p<0.001). The Doppler flow pattern in the right hepatic vein was triphasic in 28 (47.5%), biphasic in 28 (47.5%), and monophasic in 3 (5%) children with fatty liver, while it was triphasic in 43 (95.6%) and biphasic in 2 (4.4%) control subjects. There was an inverse correlation between the sonographic grade of fatty infiltration of the liver and the phasicity of hepatic venous flow (r=-0.479, p<0.001).
Conclusions: Abnormal right hepatic vein Doppler waveform, biphasic as well as monophasic, can be seen in healthy obese children with diffuse FIL.