[Value of sonographic representation of the portal artery in clinical practice]

While in chronic liver diseases we up to now above all depended on laparoscopic indices of the hypertension of the portal vein, also the non-invasive sonography is able to prove an adequate morphological substrate in form of the dilated splenic vein and the portal vein. A comparative study of 50 patients with liver cirrhosis who underwent laparoscopy shows significantly higher values in patients with clear portal hypertension. Provided a correct valuation of the findings by the clinical and a subtle examination technique, the non-invasive sonographic estimation of the portal vein represents a prognostically important diagnostic contribution in patients with chronic liver diseases.