Ultrasound Evaluation of Portal Vein Diameter and Its Doppler Hemodynamics in Apparently Healthy Adults In a Tertiary Healthy Adults In Northern Nigeria.

Document Type : Scientific Research

Authors

1 Department of Medical Radiography, University of Maiduguri

2 Department of Medical Radiography, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, College of Medical Sciences, University of Maiduguri, Borno State

3 Radiology Department, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital Bauchi, Bauchi State

Abstract

Background: Portal vein enlargement was initially considered the main sign of portal hypertension. However, the portal vein caliber does not increase angiographically and may decrease with increasing porto-hepatic venous pressure. Hepatofugal flow &/or portosystemic shunt developments also decrease the portal vein caliber, thus making the portal vein size alone a nonreliable indicator of portal hypertension.
Objective: To determine the portal vein diameter (PVD), peak systolic velocity (PSV), and pulsatility index (PI) and their relationships in apparently healthy adults based on age, gender, and anthropometric variables.
Methods: A cross-sectional prospective study was conducted among 196 healthy adults in ATBUTH, Bauchi metropolis. An ultrasound machine, "SIEMENS G50," with a 3.5MHz transducer and Doppler capability, was used. Following overnight fasting, subjects were examined in the supine and right side anterior oblique positions for portal vein diameter, PSV, and PI measurements. Anthropometric variables were measured before the examinations. Data obtained were analyzed using SPSS (22.0) and descriptive statistics.
Results: A total of 196 {Males=106(54.07%), Females=90(45.92%)} healthy adults were enrolled in the study. The mean portal VD, PSV, and PI were 11.15±1.81mm, 22.19±7.08cm/s and 0.59±0.07 for both genders, respectively, and found a weak negative correlation between portal vein pulsatility index and portal vein diameter, age & body mass index. However, these associations were not statistically significant.
Conclusion: This study has established reference values for standard portal VD, PSV, and PI in a Northern Nigerian population with their corresponding relationships based on age, gender, and anthropometric variables.

Keywords

Footnotes. Peer-Reviewers: Emad Fawzy Hamed (professor of internal medicine), Hany Mohamed Sadek (professor of internal medicine), Maysaa Saeed (professor of tropical medicine), Emad Emara (Assistant professor of diagnostic and interventional radiology) E- Editor: Salem Youssef Mohamed, Osama Ahmed Khalil, Mohamed Emara. Copyright ©. This open-access article is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution, or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited. The original publication in this journal is cited by accepted academic practice. No use, distribution, or reproduction is permitted, complying with these terms. Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent their affiliated organizations or those of the publisher, the editors, and the reviewers. Any product evaluated in this article or its manufacturer's claim is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher. Ethics Approval and Consent to Participate: All procedures followed were by the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation of the University of Maiduguri and Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital Bauchi and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1964 and later versions. Consent for publication: All patients included in this research gave written informed permission to publish the data contained within this study. Availability of data and materials: The datasets used or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. Competing interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests. Funding: This study had no funding from any resource. Authors’ contributions: GNS, GL, and YBS wrote the research, selected research cases, prepared the figures for case demonstration, and reviewed the study. GNS and GL assessed patients for initial diagnosis. GL and YBS were considered in case selection and carried out cases on workstations. “All authors read and approved the final manuscript.”

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