[Echomorphological comparisons in chronic diseases of the liver]

Altogether 139 patients with liver diseases were examined by ultrasonography. Of these, 42 patients suffered from liver cirrhosis, 27 from chronic active hepatitis, 62 from chronic persistent hepatitis, and 8 from liver steatosis. The ultrasonography data were compared with the data of the morphological study of liver biopsy specimens and with the level of hydroxyprolinemia as a characteristic of the development of the connective tissue in the liver. It was established that pronounced acoustic heterogeneity of liver tissue was typical for liver cirrhosis and fatty dystrophy of the liver and that the distinctive sign of liver cirrhosis might be poor visibility of the posterior contour of the liver. In chronic active hepatitis, the focal structures in the portal fissure were detectable in 50 percent of the cases. In chronic persistent hepatitis, the liver appeared acoustically homogeneous. It is concluded that the connective tissue, fatty infiltration of hepatocytes, and round-cell inflammatory infiltration of the liver tissue that is pronounced as to the spreading and intensity may be an object of visualization during ultrasonography.