ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the relationship between the abnormal characteristics of sublingual collateral (SC) and portal vein hemodynamic changes in patients with primary hepatic carcinoma (PHC).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A total of 123 patients of PHC with abnormal SC were enrolled. The SC characteristics were classified and evaluated. The principal components (PC) of SC extracted from them by principal component analysis and the relationship between PC and the dynamic changes of portal vein flow were analyzed by correlation analysis.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Three groups of PC were extracted, namely PC-1 (length, width, presentation type of visualization), PC-2 (circuitous, vesicular change), and PC-3 (color, collateral hemostasis, petechiae, ecchymosis). Their total accumulative contribution degree reached 56.803%. Correlation analysis shows that PC-1 was significantly positively correlated with the hemodynamic parameters of the portal vein (P<0.01), while PC-2 and PC-3 were not (P>0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Length, width and presentation type of SC could be used for predicting the changes of portal venous pressure in PHC patients.</p>