[Reversal of portal flow by obstruction of the hepatic veins by hepatic tumours (author's transl)].

Hepatic tumours may, in the course of their development, compress or invade the hepatic veins, causing in a certain way a secondary Budd-Chiari syndrome of neoplastic origin. This results in reversal of the intrahepatic portal flow in the corresponding area, easily seen at arteriography. Hepatic arteriography shows retrograde opacification of intra-hepatic portal branches (arterio-portal reflux) which is the direct sign. Return ileoportography shows the functional absence of those portal branches in which current is reversed which is the indirect sign. This haemodynamic anomaly seen at arteriography is particularly interesting when the responsible tumour is an invasive and avascular carcinoma of the liver, as was the case with our two patients, since it represents the only angiographic sign from which the diagnosis may be made, there being neither hypervascularisation nor evidence of a mass.