[Sonography in prehepatic portal vein occlusion].

In a retrospective analysis, the sonographic findings of 125 patients with prehepatic portal hypertension (of these 76 with condition after varix bleeding) were evaluated. The main cause were portal venous thromboses after umbilical venous catheter; 98% of these patients had a case history of hemorrhages. Of 113 cases with portal vein thrombosis, 54% had a cavernomatous transformation of the portal vein, 87% of them had a varix hemorrhage. In 12 patients with isolated lienal vein stenosis, no hemorrhage had occurred so far. All portal vein thromboses were correctly diagnosed by sonography. Besides the detection of thromboses, only in 5% of all cases no sonographically identifiable collaterals of the portal system were present; such collateral vessels could be imaged in 94% of the patients with endoscopic detection of varices. Sonography can be used as a screening method in suspicion of portal hypertension of prehepatic origin.