[Usefulness of ultrasonography in the diagnosis of portal hypertension]

Abstract

Portal hypertension syndrome is a common evolutive complication of several hepatic and extrahepatic diseases, being liver cirrhosis responsible for more than 80% of cases. When diagnosed it has prognostic value because of the high incidence of hemorrhagic, metabolic and infectious complications that these patients may develop. Clinical suspicion must be confirmed by objective complementary studies that provide information about the etiology and severity of the disease. In this review article we describe the contribution of ultrasonography in the evaluation of patients with portal hypertension as an objective diagnostic method and the usefulness of doppler ultrasound in the non-invasive hemodynamic assessment of the splanchnic and portal circulation.