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. 2020 Nov 28;12(11):e11733.
doi: 10.7759/cureus.11733.

Role of CT Imaging With Three-Dimensional Maximum Intensity Projection Reconstruction in the Evaluation of Portal Vein Variants at a Tertiary Care Hospital

Muhammad Asad Ullah  1 , Muhammad Saad Ahmed  1 , Kamran Hamid  1 , Muhammad Ali  1 , Muhammad Kashif Shazlee  2 , Jaideep Darira  1
Affiliations

Role of CT Imaging With Three-Dimensional Maximum Intensity Projection Reconstruction in the Evaluation of Portal Vein Variants at a Tertiary Care Hospital

Muhammad Asad Ullah et al. Cureus. .

Abstract

Introduction: Portal vein (PV) is the principal blood vessel transporting blood from the alimentary tract and spleen to the liver. The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of PV anatomical variations in our population using multidetector CT with maximum intensity projection (MIP) technique at a tertiary care hospital.

Methods: This cross-sectional study was prospectively conducted from November 2018 to June 2019 in the Department of Radiology at a tertiary care hospital in Karachi. After informed consent, all the patients with no known hepatic pathology undergoing routine abdomen CT were included in this study. Patients with previous hepatic resection surgeries, undiagnosed large hepatic tumors/metastasis, and those with PV thrombosis were excluded.

Results: A total of 500 patients (256 males and 244 females) were included in the study; the mean age of female patients was relatively higher as compared to the male patients (53.80 ± 18.44 vs. 44.15 ± 19.94 years; p = 0.000). Standard PV anatomy (type 1) was found in 438 patients (87.6%). Trifurcation (type 2) occurred in 18 patients (3.6%). Right posterior portal vein as the first branch of main PV (type 3) was found in 22 patients (4.4%). A separate branch of the right portal vein (RPV) to segment VII (type 4) and separate branch of the RPV to segment VI (type 5) were found in 6 (1.2%) and 16 (3.2%) patients, respectively.

Conclusion: Our study displayed a relatively higher frequency of standard PV anatomy (type 1) compared to previous studies. We highlight the role of MIP in the analysis of hepatic venous anatomy with its utility demonstrating improved detection of variations.

Keywords: computed tomography; maximum intensity projection; portal vein variant.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Schematic diagram of different types of variations in the portal vein
RPPV, right posterior portal vein; MPV, main portal vein.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Contrast-enhanced CT MIP reconstructed coronal image showing the trifurcation of the main portal vein (type 2)
MIP, maximum intensity projection.
Figure 3
Figure 3. Contrast-enhanced CT MIP reconstructed coronal image showing the origin of RPPV as the first branch of the main portal vein (type 3)
MIP, maximum intensity projection; RPPV, right posterior portal vein.
Figure 4
Figure 4. Contrast-enhanced CT MIP reconstructed coronal image showing the separate branch of the right portal vein to segment VII (type 4)
MIP, maximum intensity projection.
Figure 5
Figure 5. Contrast-enhanced CT MIP reconstructed coronal image showing the separate branch of the right portal vein to segment VI (type 5)
MIP, maximum intensity projection.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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