Sonographic evaluation of portal vein diameter in North Indian population.

ABSTRACT

Background: Portal vein size is a diagnostic index useful in measuring portal hypertension which is found in many disease conditions including cirrhosis where it occurs in > 60% of cases. Aims: The aim of this work is to determine the normal portal vein diameter in adult North Indian population. There is paucity of work describing the portal vein diameter in this population. Method: In this work we used a 2 D ultrasound- a non invasive method to assess the portal vein size in 400 adults aged 20-80 years of both sexes(146 males & 254 females). Results: The mean diameter of normal portal vein in the male subjects was 10.33 mm ± 1.004 & in female 9.41 mm ± 1.16. Conclusion: The portal vein diameter obtained in this work is comparable to that found in Caucasians. This information can be useful in diagnosing and treating portal hypertension in a variety of clinical situations.