Objective: The aim of this study was to define the cutoff values between compensated cirrhosis and non-cirrhotic patients with viral hepatitis B and C, using the criteria of the Doppler parameters of liver vascularity.
Materials and methods: Seventy non-cirrhotic patients with viral hepatitis B and C and 30 cirrhotic patients were included in this prospective study. The diagnostic decisiveness properties of the Doppler values in the pre-determination of liver cirrhosis were evaluated using receiver operating characteristics curve analysis.
Results: Taking the cutoff value for hepatic vein waveform index as 0.605, a sensitivity of 80% and a specificity of 77.1% were obtained. The sensitivity was 80%, and the specificity was 68.6% for a mean max portal velocity cutoff value of 18.25cm/s. When the hepatic artery resistivity index cutoff value was taken as 0.705 for the diagnosis of cirrhosis, the sensitivity was 82.5% and the specificity 72.1%. For a hepatic artery pulsatility index cutoff value of 1.295, a sensitivity of 82.5% and a specificity of 72.1% were found.
Conclusion: It is not possible to diagnose cirrhosis with only hemodynamic changes. However, the cutoff values may be helpful in the selection of patients to undergo the procedure of liver biopsy.
Keywords: Cirrhosis; Doppler ultrasonography; Hepatic artery; Hepatic veins; Portal flow.
Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS.