Liver Stiffness: A Significant Relationship with the Waveform Pattern in the Hepatic Vein

The aim of this prospective study was to assess the relationship between liver stiffness and hepatic vein waveform patterns in 42 patients with chronic hepatitis and 55 with cirrhosis. Liver stiffness measurement (LSM) values (FibroScan, Echosens, Paris, France) were significantly lower in the triphasic pattern group (11.3 ± 8.4 kPa) than in the monophasic pattern (32.5 ± 23.5 kPa, p = 0.001) and biphasic pattern (25.6 ± 18.1 kPa, p = 0.001) groups, indicating no significant relationship with portal pressure. The ability to diagnose cirrhosis represented by the highest area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.921 (83.6% sensitivity, 90.5% specificity, best cutoff value: 16.9 kPa) by LSM and 1.000 (best cutoff value: 19.4 kPa) by LSM combined with the monophasic pattern. This study revealed a close linkage between liver stiffness and hepatic vein waveform findings, resulting in a better understanding of hepatic vein hemodynamics and wider application of its analysis.